1594 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1594. Events c. February – The Shakespeare play Titus Andronicus is the first to be published, anonymously in London. His poem The Rape of Lucrece is published after May. Spring – The London theaters reopen after two years of general inactivity due to the bubonic plague epidemic of 1592–94. Many actors who used to be Lord Strange's Men form a new company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, under the patronage of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, Lord Chamberlain of England at the time. April 6 and April 9 – Members of Queen Elizabeth's Men and Sussex's Men perform the early King Leir at the Rose Theatre in London. May 14 – The reorganized Admiral's Men begin performances with Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. October – The first firmly recorded performance of Marlowe's The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus is given by the Admiral's Men with Edward Alleyn in the title role. Christmas – Students of Gray's Inn in London perform The Maske of Proteus and the Adamantine Rock before Queen Elizabeth. Written by Francis Davison with music by Thomas Campion, it is probably the first staged masque in England. December 28 – Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors is performed at Gray's Inn. unknown date – Franciscus Gomarus becomes professor of theology at Leiden University. New books Prose Sir John Davys – The Seamans Secrets Richard Hooker – Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie Thomas Nashe – The Unfortunate Traveller