Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog!

Monday, 9 May 2016

9th May, 1592 - Harry VI

Here's what Lord Strange's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: R at harey the vj the 7 of maye 1592 ... xxij^s

In modern English: Received at Harry VI, 9^th May, 1592 ... 22 shillings

As you may have noticed, Henslowe wrote today's date wrong. This little error will cause some messiness in his accounts, as he will perpetuate the mistake and will be two days out of step for quite a while. It might seem odd that Henslowe would repeatedly not notice that his dates were wrong, but most scholars think he wasn't actually writing these entries one by one on a daily basis; rather, he was adding multiple entries in big blocks, which made it easy for him to get his dates out of sync.

1540s portrait of King
Henry VI

Anyway, today, Lord Strange's Men performed Harry VI again. This play was almost certainly Shakespeare's First Part of Henry VI; you can read more about it in the blog entry for 3rd March.

The company had last performed Harry VI only 5 days ago. Previously, they had waited two weeks before reviving it, and had been rewarded with big box office from the Harry-starved crowd. Now, they revived it again in a hurry and received its lowest box office ever. I could have told them that. The clear moral is that you gotta keep the punters hungry.

Friday, 3rd March - 75 shillings
Tuesday, 7th March - 60 shillings
Saturday, 11th March - 47 shillings
Thursday, 16th March - 31 shillings
Tuesday, 28th March - 68 shillings
Wednesday, 5th April - 41 shillings
Thursday, 13th April - 26 shillings
Friday, 21st April - 33 shillings
Thursday, 4th May - 56 shillings
Tuesday, 9th May - 22 shillings

Henslowe links

Comments?

Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Sunday, 8 May 2016

8 May, 1592 - Brandimer

Here's what Lord Strange's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: R at brandimer the 8 of maye 1592 ... xxiiij^s

In modern English: Received at Brandimer, 8^th May, 1592 ... 24 shillings

Guy of Warwick fighting the giant Colbrand,
from The History of the Famous Exploits
of Guy, Earl of Warwick (1680)

Today, Lord Strange's Men revived the mysterious Brandimer which they have performed once before, just under a month ago. This play might have been about Brandimart, the companion of the legendary Orlando, or it might have been about the legendary hero Guy of Warwick and his battle with the giant Brandimore; you can read more about it in the entry for 6th April.

Brandimer made an unexciting 22 shillings last time around, and it made only 2 shillings more this time. Whatever the play's subject matter, the company's experiment in reviving it does not seem to have paid off, and it will never appear in Henslowe's records again.

Henslowe links

Comments?

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Friday, 6 May 2016

6 May, 1592 - Friar Bacon

Here's what Lord Strange's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: R at fryer bacon the 6 of maye 1592 ... xiiij^s

In modern English: Received at Friar Bacon, 6^th May, 1592 ... 14 shillings


From the title page of a prose tale of Friar Bacon, 1629, which was re-used for the 1630 edition of the play.

Today, Lord Strange's Men returned to their magical fantasy about the wizard Friar Bacon, which they had last performed just under a fortnight ago. The exact identity of this play is uncertain: it may have been Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, or it may have been the anonymous John of Bordeaux; you can read more about it in the entry for 19th February.

In a previous entry, I wondered whether the company would be dropping Friar Bacon from their repertory, due to its consistently low box office. Today, it managed to achieve its smallest audience ever. I continue to wonder why they're bothering with this play.

Saturday, 19th February - 15 shillings
Saturday, 25th March - 17 shillings
Wednesday, 26th April - 23 shillings
Saturday, 6 May - 14 shillings

What's next?

There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 7th May was a Sunday in 1592. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on 8th May...

Henslowe links

Comments?

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Thursday, 5 May 2016

5 May, 1592 - The Jew of Malta

Here's what Lord Strange's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: R at the Jewe of mallta the 5 of maye 15912 ... xxxxj^s

In modern English: Received at The Jew of Malta, 5^th May, 1592 ... 41 shillings

Caravaggio's portrait of the Grand

Master of the Knights of Malta,

1607-8.

Today, Lord Strange's Men performed their satirical comic tragedy The Jew of Malta again. You can read more about this play in the blog entry for 26th February.

The company has settled into a groove of performing The Jew of Malta approximately once every fortnight. As with the last few performances, the play is not achieving stunning popularity, but nonetheless it continues to perform better than the average play in the repertory.

Saturday, 26th February - 50 shillings
Friday, 10th March - 56 shillings
Saturday, 18th March - 39 shillings
Tuesday, 4th April, 43 shillings
Tuesday, 18th April, 48 shillings and sixpence
Friday, 5th May, 41 shillings

Henslowe links

Comments?

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Wednesday, 4 May 2016

4 May, 1592 - Harry VI

Here's what Lord Strange's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: R at harey the vj the 4 of maye 15912 ... lvj^s

In modern English: Received at Harry VI, 4^th May, 1592 ... 56 shillings

1540s portrait of King
Henry VI

Today, Lord Strange's Men performed Harry VI again. This play was almost certainly Shakespeare's First Part of Henry VI; you can read more about it in the blog entry for 3rd March.

The company's normal practice has been to perform Harry VI approximately once a week and the play had settled into a routine of producing reliable but unspectacular box office. But this time, the company had waited nearly a fortnight before performing it again. And look what happened: the play's audience nearly doubled! Could this be a case of absence making the heart grow fonder?

Friday, 3rd March - 75 shillings
Tuesday, 7th March - 60 shillings
Saturday, 11th March - 47 shillings
Thursday, 16th March - 31 shillings
Tuesday, 28th March - 68 shillings
Wednesday, 5th April - 41 shillings
Thursday, 13th April - 26 shillings
Friday, 21st April - 33 shillings
Thursday, 4th May - 56 shillings

Henslowe links

Comments?

Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Tuesday, 3 May 2016

3 May, 1592 - Titus and Vespasian

Here's what Lord Strange's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: R at titus & vespacia the 3 of maye 15912 ... lvij^s vj^d

In modern English: Received at Titus and Vespasian, 3^rd May, 1592 ... 57 shillings and sixpence

Today, Lord Strange's Men revived Titus and Vespasian, the play that they had premiered three weeks and last performed a week and a half ago. This lost play was probably a gruesome tale about the Roman siege of Jerusalem in the 1st century; you can read more about it in the entry for 11th April.

The previous performance had received an impressive 56 shillings, and today's performance made a little more. The newness of the play seems to have kept audience numbers high. And the actors were no doubt refining their performances on each outing.

Nicholas Poussin, The Destruction and Sack of the Temple at Jerusalem (1637)

Henslowe links

Comments?

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Monday, 2 May 2016

2 May, 1592 - Hieronimo

Here's what Lord Strange's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: R at Jeronymo the 2 maye 15912 ... xxxiiij^s

In modern English: Received at Hieronimo, 2^nd May, 1592 ... 34 shillings

Woodcut from the 1615 edition of The Spanish Tragedy.

Today, Lord Strange's Men gave another performance of Hieronimo, which is almost certainly an alternate title for Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, a play that they had previously performed a week and a half ago. You can read more about this play in the entry for the 14th of March. This time, they performed it as a stand-alone play, rather than pairing it with its companion piece The Spanish Comedy.

The company is continuing its pattern of performing The Spanish Tragedy approximately once a week. Today's performance continued the fairly average box office that the play has been receiving of late. In a previous post, I wondered whether the play was more popular when performed the day after The Spanish Comedy, and the list below continues to suggest that this may have been true, if you ignore the aberration on 24th April. We'll keep an eye on this still...

Tuesday, 14th March - 71 shillings (performed the day after the Comedy)
Monday, 20th March - 38 shillings (performed as an individual play)
Friday, 31st March - 60 shillings (Easter Week; performed the day after the Comedy)
Friday, 7th April - 26 shillings (performed as an individual play)
Friday, 14th April - 33 shillings (performed as an individual play)
Monday, 24th April - 28 shillings (performed one working day after the Comedy, but with Sunday interrupting)
Tuesday, 2 May - 34 shillings (performed as an individual play)

Henslowe links

Comments?

Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!