4 January, 1593 - Sir John Mandeville

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

Henslowe writes: R at mandevell the 4 of Jenewary 1592 ... xij^s

In modern English: Received at Mandeville, 4^th January, 1593 ... 12 shillings

Mandevillian monster from

the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493)

Today, Lord Strange's Men revived Sir John Mandeville, a play that is now lost. Although Mandeville is today most famous for his fantastical travel narratives, scholars think this play was most likely a chivalric and comic romance, in which Sir John won the hand of a fair lady above his station. You can read more about it in the entry for 24th February 1592.

In their previous season at the Rose, the company had revived Sir John Mandeville only about once a month, and it rarely received much more than average box office. Today's box office was worse: a paltry 12 shillings, representing a largely empty theatre. Clearly this was not a play that the London audience had been pining for during the closure of the theatres.

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)

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