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Thomas William Robertson: Actor
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2010
Extract
The continued interest in the theatrical innovations of the Bancrofts and T. W. Robertson has led to numerous recent scholarly reevaluations. William Kleb, in his excellent “Marie Wilton (Lady Bancroft) as an Actress,” notes that “the important dramatic, scenic, and managerial aspects of the Bancrofts' work should not be allowed to obscure the fact that their theatre was also fundamentally an actors' theatre.” T. W. Robertson's dramaturgical innovations, however, have also obscured the fact that he began his theatrical career as an actor. In this note, I would like to trace his acting career as a preliminary step in documenting this pivotal period in Robertson's development.
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- Notes and Comment
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- Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1979
References
1 Kleb, William, “Marie Wilton (Lady Bancroft) as an Actress,” Theatre Survey, 20 (May 1979), 43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 Robertson, Thomas William Shafto, “Memoirs” in The Principal Dramatic Works of Thomas William Robertson (London: S. Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, Limited, 1889), p. xix.Google Scholar
3 Edgar Pemberton, T., Life and Writings of T. W. Robertson (London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1893), p. 27.Google Scholar Pemberton reprints the programme for this production.
4 Principal Dramatic Works, p. xxi.
5 Sherson, Eroll in London's Lost Theatres (London: J. Lane, 1925)Google Scholar on page 216 refers to Robertson as a member of Copeland's company in 1851. On the other hand, Savin, Maynard in Thomas William Robertson: His Plays and Stagecraft (Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University Press, 1950)Google Scholar on page 28 states: “Eroll Sherson in his nostalgically biased and undocumented London's Lost Stages … mentions Robertson as a member of Copeland's company at the Strand in 1851 … I find no support for Sherson's reference to Robertson in the capacity either of actor or writer.” However, the “Strand Theatre Programme Scrapbook,” in the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, contains a programme dated 16 February 1852 on which Robertson is listed as Chim-pan-see in the “original” Mandarin's Daughter. Since this production opened on 26 December 1851 (see the London Times. 26 December 1851, p. 4), and since Robertson is also mentioned in the Strand Theatre advertisement for 6 January 1852 (London Times, p. 4) he probably did open in the burlesque in December. Apparently, Sherson was correct!
6 See the programmes dated 16 February 1852 and 23 March 1852 in the “Strand Theatre Programme Scrapbook” in the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts.
7 Principal Dramatic Works, p. xix. Robertson's son claims that his father was Vestris' prompter at the Olympic Theatre. However, by 1854 Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mathews were managing the Lyceum Theatre.
8 London Times, 18 September 1854, p. 6. Note that this contradicts Pemberton who states that Robertson appeared in Hard Times at the Marylebone Theatre in 1855.
9 Pemberton, p. 63.
10 London Times, 13 November 1854, p. 6.
11 Robson, William James, Love and Loyally (Boston: William V. Spencer, 1856), p. 2.Google Scholar
12 London Times, 15 January 1855, p. 8.
13 London Times, 22 January 1855, p. 6.
14 London Times, 5 February 1855, p. 6.
15 London Times, 26 February 1855, p. 8.
16 Pemberton, p. 65.
17 Principal Dramatic Works, pp. xxxi–xxxii. The appearance in Dublin is detailed by Pemberton, p. 73.
18 See the 24 August 1857 programme in the “Surrey Theatre Programme Scrapbook,” in the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. Mr. T. Robertson is advertised as making his “first appearance.”
19 Coleman, John, Players and Playwrights I Have Known: A Review of the English Stage from 1840 to 1880 (Philadelphia: Gebbie and Company, 1890), II, 149.Google Scholar
20 Principal Dramatic Works, p. xxxii and Coleman, p. 149.
21 Friskwell, J. H., Modern Men of Letters (London: Harder and Stoughton, 1870), p. 347.Google Scholar
22 Frith, William, My Autobiography and Reminiscences (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1888), II, 309.Google Scholar
23 “Thomas William Robertson and the Modern Theatre,” Temple Bar, 44 (June 1875), 206.
24 London Times, 15 November 1854, p. 10.
25 Principal Dramatic Works, p. xxiii.
26 Watson, Ernest Bradlee, Sheridan to Robertson: A Study of the Nineteenth Century London Stage (1926; rpt. New York: Benjamin Blom, 1963), pp. 336–37.Google Scholar Watson discusses Charles Mathews' “more realistic” interpretation of the “light comedian.” Robertson, of course, had observed Mathews' acting technique while prompting at the Lyceum Theatre.
27 Watson, pp. 386–92.