Thomas William Robertson

Thomas William Robertson

Thomas William Robertson (born January 9, 1829 in Newark-on-Trent , † February 3, 1871 ) was an English-Irish playwright and stage director.

life and work

Robertson was the oldest son of actor and manager William Robertson. As a teenager he performed in London theaters. He began his career as a playwright adapting Charles Dickens ' novels and writing songs for music hall comedians. In 1851 he wrote a comedy for the Olympic Theater in London , A Night's Adventure, which, however, had little success. In 1860 he moved to London, where he worked as an editor. His Posse A Cantab was performed a year later. In 1864 he had his first notable success with the play David Garrick, which was performed at the Haymarket Theater . His piece Society , produced a year later, was known for its realistic set design and credible dialogues. Robertson wrote other plays, including Ours (1866), Caste (1867), Play (1868), School (1869) and MP (1870). His last work, War, was performed at St James's Theater in 1871 .

literature

• Errol Durbach: Remembering Tom Robertson (1829–1871). Educational Theater Journal 24, 3 (Oct. 1972): 284-288, ISSN  0013-1989
• Thomas William Robertson: The principal dramatic works of Thomas William Robertson. Samuel French, London 1889
• Maynard Savin: Thomas William Robertson: His plays and stagecraft. Dissertation, Brown University, Providence 1950
• William Tydeman (Ed.): Plays by Tom Robertson. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1982, ISBN 0-521-23386-0