25 March, 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 25 of marche 1591 ... xv^s vj^d

In modern English: Received at Friar Bacon, 25^th March, 1592 ... 15 shillings and sixpence.

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 the play with which Henslowe's records began, back on 19th February. 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.

Friar Bacon had returned unimpressive box office a month ago, and it made 2 shillings less this time. This was one more in a string of poorly-attended performances over the last fortnight. It seems as though neither old or new plays could break this run of bad luck. Henslowe must have been frustrated.

What's next?

 

There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 26th March was a Sunday in 1592. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on 27th March and we'll see if the company's luck changes...

Henslowe links

• Transcript of this page of the Diary (from W.W. Greg's 1904 edition)
• Facsimile of this page of the Diary (from the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project)

Comments?

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