Category:John Day

John Day, 1574-1638?, is first known as a dramatist on the 30th of July of 1598, at which time he sold Philip Henslowe the book of "The Conquest of Brute" for 40s. He remained in the employ of the Admiral's men throughout Henslowe's records, writing also for Worcester's men when they moved to the Rose in 1602. Over this period he collaborated with William Haughton on the "Tragedy of John Cox" and "Tragedy of Thomas Merry"), with Thomas Dekker and Haughton on "The Spanish Moor's Tragedy" (often identified as Lust's Dominion), with Dekker, Haughton, and Henry Chettle on "Seven Wise Masters," but he also worked solo ("Italian Tragedy"). A play he wrote for the Children of the Queen's Revels, The Isle of Gulls (Q1606), attracted a lot of negative attention to the company.

He very likely also wrote a lost play called "The Maiden's Holiday," which Humphrey Moseley in 1654 attributed to Day and Christopher Marlowe (Steggle, Matthew. "Marlowe's Lost Play: 'The Maiden's Holiday'" in Kirk Melnikoff and Roslyn L. Knutson, eds., Christopher Marlowe, Theatrical Commerce, and the Book Trade. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2018. 243-257).