Rose plays

This page lists in roughly chronological order the thirty or so surviving plays known to have been performed at The Rose, as well as another dozen – marked with an * – that were probably or possibly performed here.

There are a far larger number of Rose plays that were never printed and whose manuscripts are now lost. Despite this, some information about many ofthem does still survive, largely thanks to their being recorded by Philip Henslowe in his ‘Diary’ or account book. To discover more about these, visit our Lost Rose Plays page.

LOST ROSE PLAYS

Abbreviations :

Printed – Play-books were printed in different sizes. In ascending size, ‘O’ stands for Octavo, ‘Q’ for Quarto, ‘F’ for Folio.

Performance History – Along with the date of each performance of a play at The Rose, Philip Henslowe noted down his box office takings. These amounts are given after each date in pounds (£), shillings (s), and pence (d).

Source : Volumes 2-4 of British Drama 1533–1642 : A Catalogue, edited by Martin Wiggins in association with Catherine Richardson (Oxford University Press)

The Spanish Tragedy

by Thomas Kyd

Date : Limits 1585-91, best guess 1587

Genre : Tragedy

Setting : Spain and Portugal

Playing company : Strange’s Men; Admiral’s Men; combined Admiral’s & Pembroke’s Men

Alternative titles : Hieronimo; The Spanish Tragedy of Don Horatio and Bel-Imperia; The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is Mad Again; The Tragedy of Hieronimo.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : 6 Oct 1592 to Abel Jeffes; transferred 13 Aug 1599 to William White; transferred 14 Aug 1600 to Thomas Pavier; transferred 4 Aug 1626 by Pavier’s widow Mary to Edward Brewster and Robert Bird.

Printed : 1592 (lost first edition, full of ‘gross faults’), 1592 (O1, illegal copy, confiscated by the Stationers’ Company 18 Dec), 1594 (O2), 1599 (Q1), 1602 (Q2), 1603 (Q3), 1610-11 (Q4), 1615 (Q5), 1618 (Q6), 1623 (Q7), 1633 (Q8).

Notes :

Significant additions, enough to create a ‘B-Text’, were probably made by unknown writers by 1599. Henslowe records two payments to Ben Jonson for further additions, the first for £2 on 25 Sept 1601 (paid via Edward Alleyn), the second for £10 on 22 Jun 1602 (mostly a pre-payment for writing Richard Crookback).
Twenty extracts from the play were included in John Bodenham’s Belvedere, or The Garden of the Muses in 1600, reprinted in 1610.
The play was translated into Dutch, and printed under the title Jeronimo in Utrecht in 1621 & 1634. A further eight editions were printed in Amsterdam in 1638, 1644, 1662, 1665, 1669, 1678, 1683 & 1700.

Performance Records

At The Rose

1592 : by Lord Strange’s Men (14 performances) – Tues 14 Mar (£3.11s), Mon 20 Mar (£1.18s), Fri 31 Mar (£3), Fri 7 Apr (£1.6s), Fri 14 Apr (£1.13s), Mon 24 Apr (£1.8s), Tues 2 May (£1.14s), Thurs 11 May ( ? - recorded as Tues 9 May; £1.6s), Mon 15 May ( ? - recorded as Sat 13 May; £3.4s), Thurs 25 May ( ? - recorded as Mon 22 May; £1.7s), Wed 31 May ( ? - recorded as Sat 27 May; £1.3s), Fri 9 Jun (£1.8s), Mon 19 Jun ( ? - recorded as Sun 18 May; £1.4s), & Sat 30 Dec (£3.8s).

1593 : by Lord Strange’s Men (2 performances) – Mon 8 Jan (£1.2s), & Mon 22 Jan (£1).

1597 : by the Admiral’s Men (12 performances) – Fri 7 Jan (£3), Tues 11 Jan (£2), Mon 17 Jan (£1), Sat 22 Jan (19s), Mon 31 Jan (£1.4s), Wed 9 Jan (17s), Tues 8 Mar (£1.1s), Thurs 21 Apr (17s), Wed 4 May (11s), Wed 25 May (19s), Mon 20 Jun (14s), & Tues 19 Jul (£1).

Also

1590s : possibly performed by a provincial touring company. Ben Jonson may have been in the cast, possibly playing Hieronimo.

1601 : in Frankfurt, by Robert Browne’s company of English actors.

1602 : recently ‘divers times acted’, probably at the newly-built Fortune playhouse in a revised version.

1626 : possibly one or three performances by an English playing company at the Court of Saxony in Dresden in June & September.

Tamburlaine, part one

by Christopher Marlowe

Date : 1587

Genre : Tragedy, dramatising events in the life of Timur Khan (1336-1403)

Setting : 14th / 15th century Asia – Persia, Scythia, Bithynia

Company : Admiral’s Men

Alternative titles : Tamburlaine the Great (printed); The First Part of Tamburlaine; Tamburlaine the Scythian Shepherd; Mighty Tamburlaine the Scythian Shepherd; The Conquests of Tamburlaine the Scythian Shepherd; The Tragical Conquests of Tamburlaine the Scythian Shepherd.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : 14 Aug 1590, with part 2 below.

Printed : (with part two, below) 1590 (O1), 1592 (O2), 1593 (O3); (separately) 1605 (Q).

Performance Records

By 1590 : the title-page of O1 states it was ‘sundry times showed upon stages’ in London by the Admiral’s Men.

At The Rose

1594 : by the Admiral’s Men (9 performances) – Fri 30 Aug ( ? - recorded as Wed 28 Aug; £3.11s), Fri 13 Sept ( ? - recorded as Thurs 12 Sept; £2.5s), Mon 30 Sept ( ? - recorded as Sat 28 Sept; £1.11s), Wed 16 Oct ( ? - recorded as Tues 15 Oct; £1.8s), Fri 18 Oct ( ? - recorded as Thurs 17 Oct; £2), Mon 4 Nov (£1.19s), Wed 27 Nov (£1.2s), Tues 17 Dec (£1.11s), & Tues 31 Dec ( ? - recorded as Mon 30 Dec; £1.2s).

1595 : by the Admiral’s Men (6 performances) – Wed 1 Jan (£3.2s), Wed 29 Jan (£2.7s), Tues 18 Feb (£1.16s), Wed 12 Mar (£1.2s), Thurs 22 May (£1.5s), & Thurs 13 Nov (£1.12s).

Also

By 1642 : performed at the Red Bull playhouse.

By 1654 : reportedly acted at holiday festivals, probably during the 1630s.

Tamburlaine, part two

by Christopher Marlowe

Date : 1587

Genre : Tragedy, dramatising events in the later life of Timur Khan (1336-1403)

Setting : 15th century, Asia, Hungary, Egypt, Larissa, Byron, Babylon

Company : Admiral’s Men

Alternative titles : Tamburlaine the Great; Tamburlaine, the Scythian Shepherd; The Conquests of Tamburlaine the Scythian Shepherd.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : 14 Aug 1590, with part 2 below.

Printed : (with part one, above) 1590 (O1), 1592 (O2), 1593 (O3); (separately) 1606 (Q).

Performance Records

1587 : performed in London before Thurs 16 Nov, when a child and a pregnant woman in the audience were killed, and another man injured, in a firearms accident during the last act of the play.

By 1590 : the title-page of O1 states it was ‘sundry times showed upon stages’ in London by the Admiral’s Men.

At The Rose

1594 : by the Admirals’ Men – Thurs 19 Dec (£2.6s).

1595 : by the Admirals’ Men (6 performances) – Mon 27 Jan (£1.10s), Mon 17 Feb (£1.10s), Tues 11 Mar (£1.10s), Wed 21 May (£1.2s), Mon 15 Sept £1.1s), & Wed 12 Nov (18s).

* Alphonsus, King of Aragon

by Robert Greene

Date : Limits 1587-9, best guess 1587

Genre : Romance

Setting : around 1442, in Italy, Turkey and the near East

Company : Queen’s Men

Alternative title : Alphonso of Aragon.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : –

Printed : 1599 (Q).

Performance Records

By 1599 : the title page of Q states it was ‘Sundry times acted’.

The play may be referred to in George Peele’s poem A Farewell, registered 23 Feb 1589, ‘Muhammad’s poo’ (i.e ‘poll’ or ‘head’?) is mentioned alongside other popular stage characters Tamburlaine, Charlemagne, and Thomas Stukely (who appears in The Battle of Alcazar).

Reason to believe it may have been performed at The Rose

In an inventory of stage properties prepared for or by Philip Henslowe on 10 Mar 1598 , ‘old Muhammad’s head’ is mentioned, which may refer to the means of presenting the character on stage.

Also

1626 : possibly performed on by an English playing company on 9 July at the Court of Saxony in Dresden.

* Suleiman and Perseda

by Thomas Kyd (attribution)

Date : Limits 1588-9, best guess 1588

Genre : Tragedy

Setting : 16th century Rhodes and Turkey

Company : Queen’s Men

Alternative titles : modernised as Soliman and Perseda.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : 20 Nov 1592.

Printed : c. 1592 (O1), 1599 (O2).

Notes :

Twenty extracts from the play were included in John Bodenham’s Belvedere, or The Garden of the Muses in 1600, reprinted in 1610.

Performance Records

None in England.

Reason to believe it may have been performed at The Rose

The play seems paired with Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy (listed above, and certainly staged at The Rose), in the last scene of which Hieronimo organises a performance of a tragedy of ‘Suleiman and Perseda’, during which he and Bel-Imperia, to gain their revenge, genuinely kill Lorenzo and Balthazar as they act out their parts.

Also

1597 : perhaps the same as the play Erastus, performed in Strasbourg by Thomas Sackville’s company on 8 August.

* The Wounds of Civil War

by Thomas Lodge

Date : Limits 1587-8, best guess 1588

Genre : Classical History

Setting : first century B.C. Rome, Italy & Africa

Company : Admiral’s Men

Alternative titles : The Most Lamentable and True Tragedies of Marius and Sulla.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : 24 May 1594.

Printed : 1594 (Q).

Notes :

Thirteen extracts from the play were included in Robert Allots’s England’s Parnassus in 1600, reissued that year.

Performance Records

By 1594 : the title-page of Q states it was ‘publicly played in London’.

Reason to believe it may have been performed at The Rose

It was performed by the Admiral’s Men, the same company who performed Marlowe’s Tamburlaine at The Rose 1587-8, and both plays contain a scene with a conqueror entering in a chariot drawn by those he has conquered – it is highly like the same prop chariot was used for both plays.

Doctor Faustus

by Christopher Marlowe

Date : Limits 1587-9, best guess 1588

Genre : Tragedy

Setting : 16th century Wittenberg, Rome, the Imperial Court of Charles IV (1519-56, & Anhalt

Company : Admiral’s Men

Alternative titles : The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (printed Q1); Faustus; De Fausto; The Tragical History of the Horrible Life and Death of Dr Faustus (printed Q2).

Entered in Stationers’ Register : 7 Jan 1601 to Thomas Bushell; transferred 13 Sept 1610 to John Wright; transferred 27 June 1646 to Edward Wright; transferred 4 April 1655; transferred 18 April 1666 to Robert White.

Printed : 1604 (Q1), 1609 (Q2), 1611 (Q3), 1616 (Q4), 1619 (Q5), 1620 (Q6), 1624 (Q7), 1628 (Q8), 1631 (Q9).

Notes :

On 22 Nov 1602 Philip Henslowe paid £4 to the Admiral’s Men to pay William Bird and Samuel Rowley to write additions to the play.
Q4 prints an expurgated B-text of the play incorporating Bird and Rowley’s additions, and uses the famous woodcut of Faustus conjuring in his study in scene 3 on the title-page for the first time.
A Restoration adaptation of the play was printed in 1663.

Performance Records

c. 1588 : The play was possibly performed within the City of London at the indoor Bel–Savage Inn, according to an anecdote provided by William Prynne in his 1630s anti-theatrical tract Histriomastix, which describes the unexpected appearance of actual devils onstage during a performance. A later version of the tale shifts the location of this diabolic manifestation to Exeter, naming Edward Alleyn as the upstaged actor playing Faustus.

At The Rose

1594 : by the Admirals’ Men (8 performances) – Wed 2 Oct ( ? - recorded as Mon 10 Sept; £3.12s), Tues 10 Oct ( ? - recorded as 9 Oct; £2.4s), Tues 22 Oct ( ? - recorded as Mon 21 Oct; £1.13s), Tues 5 Nov (£1.18s), Wed 20 Nov (18s), Mon 9 Dec ( ? - recorded as Sun 8 Dec; 15s), Fri 20 Dec (18s), & Sat 28 Dec ( ? - recorded as Fr 27 Dec; £2.12s).

1595 : by the Admirals’ Men (7 performances) – Thurs 9 Jan (£1.2s), Fri 24 Jan (£1.4s), Sat 8 Feb (£18s), Wed 30 Apr ( ? - recorded as Thurs 31 Apr; £1.2s), Thurs 5 Jun (17s), Wed 10 Sept ( ? - recorded as Thurs 11 Sept; £1.12s), & Sat 27 Sept ( ? - recorded as Fri 26 Sept; 13s).

1596 : by the Admirals’ Men (8 performances) – Fri 13 Feb (£1.5s), Mon 19 Apr (12s), Thurs 6 May ( ? - recorded as Weds 5 May; £1), Sat 12 Jun (17s), Sat 3 Jul (14s), Thurs 28 Oct (£1.7s), Thurs 4 Nov (17s), & Thurs 16 Dec ( ? - recorded as Fri 17 Dec; 9s).

1597 : by the Admirals’ Men (1 performance) – Weds 5 Jan (5s).

1597: by the Admiral’s & Pembroke’s Men, probably on Thurs 13 Oct.

Also

1597 : performed at Strasbourg by Thomas Sackville’s company on Tues 2 Aug (Julian calendar).

1602 : probably revived by the Admiral’s Men with Bird & Rowley’s additions at The Fortune in Nov or later.

1608 : probably performed by John Greene’s company at the Court of Styria in Graz on Sun 10 Feb (Gregorian calendar).

c. 1620 : performed at The Fortune, presumably by the Palsgrave’s Men.

1626 : possibly performed by an English compnay at the Court of Saxony on Tues 7 July (Gregorian calendar).

c. 1640 : possibly performed by Prince Charles’s Men at The Fortune.

The Battle of Alcazar

by ? George Peele (attribution)

Date : Limits 1588-9, best guess 1588

Genre : Tragedy

Setting : 1578 Barbary & Portugal, with particular scenes in Tangier & Lisbon

Company : Admiral’s Men

Alternative titles : The Tragical Battle of Alcazar; The Tragical Battle of Alcazar in Barbary; possibly Muly Mulocco; possibly Mahamet.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : –

Printed : 1594 (Q)

Notes :

Two extracts from the play were included in Robert Allots’s England’s Parnassus in 1600, reissued that year, one ascribed to Peele, the other mistakenly to Thomas Dekker.
A surviving manuscript copy of the plot was prepared for theatrical use c. 1601 for its revival at The Fortune..

Performance Records

By Feb 1589 : probably performed by this date, since George Peele’s poem A Farewell, registered on 23 Feb of that year, references Stukely as a popular character on the stage.

By (or in) 1594 : the title-page of Q states it was ‘sundry times played’ by the Admiral’s Men

At The Rose

The play may be the same as the otherwise lost play Muly Molocco, a name twice used for the lead character of Abdelmelec in Alcazar, performed by Strange’s Men 12 times Feb-Dec 1592 and twice in Jan 1593.

The play may be the same as the otherwise lost play Mahamet, since Muly Mahamet is the lead character in Alcazar, performed by the Admirals Men 7 times Aug-Dec 1594, & once in Feb 1595, and revived at The Fortune in 1601, according to expenditures on costumes in August of that year, the same month that Edward Alleyn sold the book of the play to the company.

Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay

by Robert Greene

Date : Limits 1588-92, best guess 1589

Genre : Comedy

Setting : 13th century England during the reign of Henry III (1216-72)

Company : Queen’s Men, Queen’s and Sussex’s Men

Alternative titles : Friar Bacon; Bacon; possibly The Play of Bacon.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : 14 May 1594 to Adam Islip; Islip’s name erased and replaced with that of Edward White; transferred 29 June 1624 by White’s widow to Edward Allde; transferred 22 April 1649 from Allde’s deceased widow Elizabeth to Richard Oulton.

Printed : 1594 (Q), 1630 (Q2), 1655 (Q3).

Notes :

Two extracts from the play, ascribed to Greene, were included in Robert Allots’s England’s Parnassus in 1600, reissued that year.

Performance Records

By 1594 : the title page of Q1 states ‘as it was played by her Majesty’s servants’.

After 1613 & by 1630: the title page of Q2 states ‘as it was lately played by the Prince Palatine his servants’, an alternative name for the Palsgrave’s Men, who were formed in 1613 out of the Admirals’ Men (by then called Prince Henry’s Men).

At The Rose

1592-3 : Henslowe records performances of Friar Bacon, which may refer to this play or its ‘sequel’ John of Bordeaux, or Friar Bacon part 2 (below), performed by Strange’s Men 4 times in 1592 – Sat 19 Feb (17s.3d), Sat 25 Mar (15s.6d), Wed 26 Apr (£1.4s), & Sat 6 May (14s); and 3 times in 1593 – Wed 10 Jan (£1.4s), Wed 17 Jan (£1), & Mon 29 Jan ( ? recorded as Tues 30 Jan; 12s).

1594 : by the Queen’s Men and Sussex’s Men (2 performances) – Monday 1 April (£2.3s), & Friday 5 April (£1).

Also

1602-3 : possibly performed at Court before Elizabeth I, as one of three performances acted by the Admiral’s Men at Whitehall Palace on 27 Dec 1602, or at Richmond Place on either 6 Mar 1603 (Shrove Tuesday) or 4 Mar (Shrove Sunday), for which Edward Alleyn was later paid £30 by a warrant dated 20 April that year.

* The Troublesome Reign of King John

by George Peele (attributed)

Date : Limits 1587-91, best guess 1589

Genre : History

Setting : 12th & 13th century England & France

Company : Queen’s Men

Alternative titles : The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England (printed).

Entered in Stationers’ Register : –

Printed : Q1 (1591), Q2 (1611), Q3 (1622).

Notes :

The play was printed divided into two parts, which may be a publisher’s device to match in status the two parts of Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, rather than indicating that they were performed separately.

Performance Records

By 1591 : the title page of Q1 states ‘As it was (sundry times) publicly acted by the Queen’s Majesty’s players, in the honourable City of London’.

Reason to believe it may have been performed at The Rose

Other plays by Peele from this period were performed there.

The Jew of Malta

by Christopher Marlowe

Date : Limits 1589-90, best guess 1589

Genre : Tragedy

Setting : 16th century Malta

Company : Sussex’s Men, & with Queen’s Men; Admiral’s Men, & with Pembroke’s Men

Alternative titles : The Rich Jew of Malta (printed); The Jew.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : 17 May 1594 to Nicholas Ling & Thomas Millington; 20 Nov 1632 to Nicholas Vavasour.

Printed : 1633 (Q).

Notes :

The play was possibly translated into Dutch, and printed under the title Joodt van Malta, ofte Wraeck door Moordt in Leiden in 1645.
Thomas Heywood contributed a new prologue and two new epilogues for the play’s revivals by Queen Henrietta’s Men in 1625-33.
An extract from Act 1 Scene 2 was included in John Cotgrave’s The English Treasury of Wit and Language in 1655.

Performance Records

At The Rose

1592 : by Strange’s Men (10 performances) – Sat 26 Feb (£2.10s), Fri 10 Mar (£2.16s), Sat 18 Mar (£1.19s), Tues 4 Apr (£2.3s), Tues 18 Apr (£2.8s.6d), Fri 5 May (£2.1s), Sat 13 May ( ? recorded as Thur 11 May; £1.14s), Tues 23 May ( ? recorded as Sat 20 May; £2.14s), Fri 2 June (recorded as Tues 30 May; £1.13s), & Wed 14 June (£1.18s).

1593 : by Strange’s Men (3 performances) – Tues 2 Jan ( ? recorded as Mon 1 Jan; £2. 16s), Thurs 18 Jan (£3), & Thurs 1 Feb (£1.15s).

1594 : by Sussex’s Men (1 performance) – Mon 4 Feb (£2.10s).

1594 : by the Queen’s and Sussex’s Men (2 performances) – Wed 3 Apr (£3), & Mon 8 Apr ( ? recorded as Sun 7 Apr; £1.6s).

1594 : by the Admiral’s Men (10 performance) – Tues 14 May (£2.8s), Tues 25 June ( ? recorded as Sun 23 June; £1.3s), Mon 1 July ( ? recorded as Sun 30 June; £2.1s); Wed 10 July (£1.7s), Mon 22 July (£1.11s), Mon 5 Aug (£1.7s), Fri 9 Aug ( ? recorded as Wed 7 Aug; 17s.6d), Mon 2 Sept (£1.3s.6d), Mon 21 Oct ( ? recorded as Sun 20 Oct; 13s), & Tues 10 Dec ( ? recorded as Mon 9 Dec; 3s).

1596 : by the Admiral’s Men (8 performances) – Fri 9 Jan (£2.16s), Mon 19 Jan ( ? recorded as Sun 18 Jan; £1.18s), Fri 30 Jan ( ? recorded as Thurs 29 Jan; £1.5s), Mon 2 Feb (£2.17s), Wed 18 Feb ( ? recorded as Tues 17 Feb ; £1), Tues 20 Apr (£1), Fri 14 May (£1.4s), & Wed 23 June ( ? recorded as Mon 21 June; 13s).

Also

1594 : at the playhouse in Newington Butts by the Admiral’s Men and Lord Chamberlain’s Men (2 performance) – Thurs 6 June ( ? recorded as Tues 4 June; 10s), & Sat 15 June ( ? recorded as Thurs 13 June; 4s).

1597 : probably the play performed by Thomas Sackville’s company as The Rich Jew in Strasbourg on Sat 30 July (Julian calendar).

1601 : for the play’s revival by the Admiral’s Men at The Fortune Playhouse Henslowe records money advanced on Tues 19 May to Robert Shaa and Edward Juby ‘to buy divers things’, and to ‘the little tailor’ for ‘more things’.

1607 : possibly performed by John Green’s company at the Court of the future Emperor Ferdinand II at Passau in November.

1608 : possibly performed by John Green’s company at the Court of Styria in Graz on Thurs 14 Feb.

1626 : probably performed by an English company as Barabas, Juden von Malta at the Court of Saxony in Dresden on Fri 31 July & Sat 29 Aug (Gregorian calendar).

1625-33 : performed at the Cockpit by Queen Henrietta’s Men.

1630-3 : performed at the Cockpit in Court in Whitehall by Queen Henrietta’s Men.

1646 : performed in Dresden.

by 1654 : reportedly acted at holiday festivals.

A Looking Glass for London and England

by Thomas Lodge & Robert Greene

Date : Limits 1589-91, best guess 1589

Genre : Biblical

Setting : 8th century B.C. Ninevah, during the reign of Jeroboam II

Company : Strange’s Men

Alternative titles : The Looking Glass for London; The Looking Glass.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : 5 Mar 1594 to Thomas Creede; transferred 14 Aug 1600 to Thomas Pavier.

Printed : 1594 (Q1), 1598 (Q2), 1603 (Q3), c. 1605 (Q4), 1617 (Q5).

Notes :

Five extracts from the play were included in Robert Allots’s England’s Parnassus in 1600, reissued that year.

Performance Records

At The Rose

1592 : by Strange’s Men (4 performances) – Wed 8 Mar (7s), Mon 27 Mar (£2.15s), Wed 19 Apr (£1.4s), & Wed 7 June (£1.9s).

Also

1605 : possibly the play ein comedia aus den propheten Jona performed by an English company at Nördlingen in Germany on Thurs 10 May (Julian calendar).

After 1605 : probably performed 1610s or 1620s, probably by Prince Charles’s Men.

King Leir and his Three Daughters

by unknown

Date : Limits 1586-94, best guess 1589

Genre : History

Setting : 9th century B.C. Britain and Gaul.

Date : Limits 1588-92, best guess 1591

Genre : Romance

Setting : Africa or India, during the reign of King Charlemagne (768-814 AD)

Company : Queen’s Men, and Admiral’s Men

Alternative titles : The history of Orlando Furioso, One of the Twelve Peers of France (printed); Orlando Furioso.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : 7 Dec 1593 to John Danter; transferred 28 May 1594 to Cuthbert Burby, transferred 16 Oct 1609 by Burby’s widow, Elizabeth, to William Welby; transferred 2 Mar 1618 to Thomas Snodham; transferred 23 Feb 1626 by Snodham’s widow, Elizabeth, to William Stansby; transferred 4 Mar 1639 by Stansby’s widow, Elizabeth, to Richard Bishop.

Printed : 1594 (Q1), 1599 (Q2).

Notes :

Greene reportedly sold the play to the Queen’s Men for £6.13s.4d, and after they had left London to tour, he sold the play again for the same amount to the Admiral’s Men, who remained in the capital.
Edward Alleyn’s personally annotated cue-script for the part of Orlando survives, now separated out into individual pages from its original form of one continuous roll of paper, and is preserved in the Dulwich Archives.
Six extracts from the play were included in Robert Allots’s England’s Parnassus in 1600, reissued that year.

Performance Records

c. 1591 : probably performed by the Queen’s Men on tour through the country, and by the Admiral’s Men at The Theatre in Shoreditch.

At The Rose

1592 : by Strange’s Men (1 performance) – Tues 22 Feb ( ? recorded as Mon 21 Feb; 16s.6d).

Also

By 1594 : the title-page of Q1 states ‘it was played before the Queen’s Majesty’, therefore at Court.

1626 : possibly performed by an English company as Comoedia vom Orlando furioso at the Court of Saxony in Dresden on Thurs 25 June (Gregorian calendar).

George-a-Greene

by Robert Greene (attribution)

Date : Limits 1587-92, best guess 1591

Genre : Romance

Setting : 1460-80s Yorkshire

Company : Sussex’s Men

Alternative titles : George-a-Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield (printed); The Pinner of Wakefield; George a Greene.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : 1 Apr 1595 to Cuthbert Burby, transferred 16 Oct 1609 by Burby’s widow, Elizabeth, to William Welby; transferred 2 Mar 1618 to Thomas Snodham; transferred 23 Feb 1626 by Snodham’s widow, Elizabeth, to William Stansby; transferred 4 Mar 1639 by Stansby’s widow, Elizabeth, to Richard Bishop.

Printed : 1599 (Q).

Performance Records

By 1599 : the title page of Q states it was ‘sundry times publicly acted’ by Sussex’s Men.

At The Rose

1593 : by Sussex’s Men (1 performance) – Fri 28 Dec ( ? recorded as Sat 29 Dec; £3.10s).

1594 : by Sussex’s Men (4 performances) – Wed 2 Jan (18s), Tues 8 Jan (£1.3s), Tues 15 Jan (£1), and Wed 23 Jan ( ? recorded as Tues 22 Jan; £1.5s).

Also

1639 : by the King’s and Queen’s Young Company (Beeston’s Boys).

* The Tragical Reign of Selimus

by ? Robert Greene (attribution)

Date : Limits 1591-4, best guess 1591

Genre : Tragedy

Setting : 1511-12 Turkey

Company : Queen’s Men

Alternative titles : The First Part of the Tragical Reign of Selimus, sometime Emperor of the Turks (printed); The First Part of the Most Tyrannical Tragedy of Selimus, Emperor of the Turks; The Tragedy of Selimus, Emperor of the Turks; Selimus’s Reign; 1 Selimus.

Entered in Stationers’ Register : – (Q printed by Thomas Creede).

Printed : 1594 (Q), reissued 1638 with a cancel title page giving the author’s initails as as ‘T. G.’ (implying Thomas Gough?).

Notes :

Six extracts from the play were included in Robert Allots’s England’s Parnassus in 1600, reissued that year.
An extract from Scene 2, headed ‘Certain hellish verses' and ascribed to Sir Walter Ralegh, is transcribed in two surviving manuscripts.
Thomas Lodge has been proposed as a co-author, by Donna Murphy in 2009.

Printed :

Performance Records

At The Rose

Also

Lost Rose plays

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