The Rose was what is now known as a ‘repertory’ house. A very successful play might be repeated on the night after its first production or revival, or in the course of the same week. But as a rule one performance a week was the limit, and after a play had been on the boards a few weeks, the intervals between its appearances rapidly became greater. The Wise Man of West Chester, which was presented thirty-two times between December 1594 and July 1597, had a longer life than any other new play during the three years. Next came A Knack to Know an Honest Man, with twenty-one performances in two years, 1 Seven Days of the Week, with twenty-one performances in fifteen months, and The Blind Beggar of Alexandria, with twenty-two performances in fourteen months. Belin Dun, although not continuously upon the stage for long together, achieved with the aid of its revival a total of twenty-four performances. The only other new plays, that outlived a year, were 2 Godfrey of Bulloigne and A Toy to Please Chaste Ladies. Even such highly successful plays as 1 and 2 Hercules ceased to be heard of after six months. The usual run of a play was anything from six to seventeen nights, but sixteen plays failed to obtain even such a run, and several plays, which apparently did well enough on the first night, were not repeated at all. As a rule the first night of a play brought Henslowe the highest returns; but this was by no means invariably the case, and the success of any play, which held the boards for as many as six nights, can perhaps best be measured by its average returns. By far the most fortunate was The Comedy of Humours which averaged 53s. for the eleven nights available before the summer season of 1597 closed. Next came 1 and 2 Hercules with 42s. and 43s. respectively, 1 Seven Days of the Week with 35s., and The Wise Man of West Chester with 34s. On the other hand the average of Henry I was no more than 19s. and that of the second French Comedy no more than 16s. The highest individual returns were those from the first nights of 1 and 2 Hercules, 2 Godfrey of Bulloigne, and 1 Seven Days of the Week, which yielded 73s., 70s., 71s., and 70s. respectively, and that from the sixth night of the Comedy of Humours, which was also 70s. The booking for this play shows a curious progress, being 43s., 55s., 58s., 64s., 66s., 70s., for the first six nights. Similarly The Wise Man of West Chester, which began with a bad first night of 33s., rose to a good average, while 2 Godfrey of Bulloigne, for all its start of 70s., ended with an average of only 28s. The worst first night taking was the 22s. of Nebuchadnezzar, and this affords another curious example of box-office fluctuations, for, though it achieved no higher average than 22s., it rose on its third night to 68s. The worst takings, on other than first nights, were 3s. for Chinon of England,[391] 4s. for Vortigern, and for Olympo, and 5s. twice over for A Woman Hard to Please. Probably these were due to weather or other accidents, as each play averaged enough to justify a reasonable run. The success of the old plays followed much the same lines as that of the new ones. They ran for anything from one night to twenty-four, this total being reached by Dr. Faustus. The best average returns were the 32s. and 38s. of 1 and 2 Tamburlaine, the 30s. of Mahomet, the 29s. of 1 Long Meg of Westminster, the 27s. of The Guise, and the 26s. of The Jew of Malta; the best individual returns the 72s. and 71s. yielded by the respective first nights of Dr. Faustus and 1 Tamburlaine. The persistent popularity of Marlowe’s work comes out quite clearly from the statistics; and the success of Chapman’s first attempts is also not to be overlooked.
The personnel of the Admiral’s men during 1594–7 can be determined with some approach to certainty. They were Edward Alleyn, John Singer, Richard Jones, Thomas Towne, Martin Slater, Edward Juby, Thomas Downton, and James Donstone. Their names are found in a list written in the diary, without any explanation of its object, amongst memoranda of 1594–6.[392] There can be little doubt that it represents the principal members of the company, and in most cases corroborative evidence is available. The books of the Treasurer of the Chamber indicate Alleyn, Jones, and Singer as payees for the Court money of 1594–5, and Alleyn and Slater for that of 1595–6. Alleyn, Slater, Donstone, and Juby are noted in Henslowe’s subsidiary accounts for 1596 as responsible for advances made by him on behalf of the company.[393] Another advance was made to Stephen the tireman, and he is doubtless the Stephen Magett who also appears in personal financial relations with Henslowe during 1596.[394] Transactions by way of loan, sale, or pawn are also noted by Henslowe during 1594–7 with Slater, Jones, Donstone, Singer, and Towne, and also with Edward Dutton and Richard Alleyn.[395] These latter were probably not sharers in the company, but can be traced with others amongst its subordinate members by means of the ‘plot’ of Frederick and Basilea, which it is reasonable to connect with the performances of the play in June and July 1597, since it was a new play on 3 June, and it is recorded in the diary that Martin Slater, who figures in the ‘plot’, left the company on 18 July. It is to be inferred from the plot that the principal parts in Frederick and Basilea were taken by Mr. Alleyn, Mr. Thomas Towne, Mr. Martin [Slater], Mr. Juby, Mr. Donstone, and R. Alleyn; that minor male parts were taken by Edward Dutton, Thomas Hunt, Robert Ledbetter, Black Dick, Pigge, Sam, Charles, and the ‘gatherers’ or money-takers and other ‘attendants’; and that female parts were taken by Edward Dutton’s boy Dick and two other boys known as Will and Griffen. Apparently the play, although not employing all the principal actors, made considerable demands on the minor staff. Dr. Greg may be right in identifying Sam and Charles with the Samuel Rowley and Charles Massey who became members of the company at a later date.[396] It will be seen that the only name in Henslowe’s undated list which cannot be verified as that of a member of the company during 1594–7 is that of Thomas Downton; but it may safely be accepted. Downton had accompanied Alleyn on the provincial tour with Strange’s men in 1593. So had Pigge or Pyk. Jones and Donstone, who is the same as Tunstall, had belonged to Worcester’s men in 1583, and probably to the Admiral’s men before 1590; Jones had been abroad, as we have seen, during the plague years. John Singer had been a member of the Queen’s men in 1588. The other names now come into the story for the first time. Henslowe’s advances for 1596 included sums ‘to feache Fletcher’ and ‘to feache Browne’.[397] It can only be matter of conjecture whether there is evidence here of negotiations for the incorporation in the company of Robert Browne and of Laurence Fletcher, at a later date a colleague of Slater’s, and if so, whether they led to any fruitful result.
The departure of Martin Slater on 18 July 1597 was only one of several changes which profoundly modified the composition of the company in the course of that year.[398] In February Richard Jones and Thomas Downton went to the Swan as Pembroke’s men, and the disturbance thereby caused probably accounts for the three weeks’ cessation of playing during Lent. The Swan enterprise was brought to a disastrous conclusion after five months by the production of The Isle of Dogs, which not only brought personal trouble on the chief offenders, but also led to a restraint of plays at all the theatres. This event synchronizes with the first appearance in the diary of Nashe’s collaborator in The Isle of Dogs, Ben Jonson. On 28 July Henslowe lent him no less a sum than £4, and took Alleyn and Singer as witnesses. On the same day he opened an account headed ‘℞ of Bengemenes Johnsones share as ffoloweth’ with a first instalment of 3s. 9d.[399] On this very day of 28 July the Privy Council’s inhibition fell, and Jonson went to prison and paid no more instalments. It is impossible to say whether his ‘share’ was in the Admiral’s company or in Pembroke’s. In any event, although he continued to write for the Admiral’s men after 1597, there is no further sign that he was either a ‘sharer’, or indeed an actor in any capacity.
One result of the restraint was that Jones and Downton not merely returned to the Rose, but brought at least three other of Pembroke’s men, Robert Shaw, Gabriel Spencer, and William Bird, known also by the alias of Borne, with them. Henslowe was thus enabled, almost immediately after playing stopped, to set about the reconstitution of his company, and the memoranda of agreement which he noted in his diary during the next fourteen months are so interesting for the light which they throw upon his relations with the actors, that I think it well, before discussing them, to transcribe them in full. There are in all eleven of them, as follows:[400]
i. (Thomas Hearne)
Memorandom that the 27 of Jeuley 1597 I heayred Thomas Hearne with ij pence for to searve me ij yeares in the qualetie of playenge for fyve shellynges a weacke for one yeare & vjs viijd for the other yeare which he hath covenanted hime seallfe to searue me & not to departe frome my companey tyll this ij yeares be eanded wittnes to this
John Synger.
Jeames Donston.
Thomas Towne.