The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.1658  Monday, 6 September 2004

From:           Diana Price <
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Date:           Friday, 3 Sep 2004 20:27:13 -0400
Subject: 15.1630 Henslowe's 'ne'
Comment:        Re: SHK 15.1630 Henslowe's 'ne'

Chris Whatmore wrote:

 >On the
 >subject of increased takings on 'ne' days, I still doubt that the ticket
 >prices would have been higher for new plays (would you pay extra to see
 >a play you'd never heard of?)

There is evidence that double the usual admission price was charged at
some premiere performances. In 1585, a German merchant, Samuel Kiechel,
reported that

"Comedies are given daily. . There are some peculiar houses, which are
so made as to have [in some instances] three galleries over one another,
inasmuch as a great number of people always enters to see such an
entertainment. It may well be that they take as much as from . . . [