Robertson, T(homas) W(illiam) (1829–71), English dramatist, eldest of the 22 children of an actor. Several of his brothers and sisters were on the stage, the most famous being the youngest girl Madge who became Mrs
Kendal. Robertson himself acted as a child, and later appeared as an adult in Lincoln, where the Robertson family had for many years been in control of the theatres on the Lincoln
circuit. There he made himself generally useful, painting scenery, writing songs and adapting plays, and playing small parts. He was, in fact, trained in the old school which he was later to destroy, a process which can be studied, with reservations, in
Pinero's Trelawny of the ‘Wells’ (1898). Yet his earliest plays were in no way remarkable. He wrote them quickly and sold them cheaply to Lacy, the theatrical publisher. The first of them,
The Chevalier de St George (1845), was produced at the
Princess's Theatre, and although they were all moderately successful, it was not until the production of
David Garrick (1864) at the
Haymarket Theatre that he came to the attention of the public. Such plays as
Society (1865),
Ours (1866),
Caste (1867),
Play (1868), and
School (1869), whose monosyllabic titles alone come as a refreshing change from those of earlier, and even some contemporary, plays, were all seen at the Prince of Wales, later the
Scala Theatre, where they established the reputation not only of the author but also of the newly formed
Bancroft management. With this series Robertson founded what has been called the ‘cup-and-saucer drama’—the drama of the realistic, contemporary, domestic interior. His rooms were recognizable, his dialogue credible; his plots, though they now seem somewhat artificial, were true to his time, embodying serious social content, and an immense advance on anything that had gone before.
Caste in particular still holds the stage, and some of the others would revive well. Robertson, a convivial creature with a brilliant flow of conversation, was active in the production of his own plays, fulfilling some of the functions of the modern
director. He enjoyed a few years of fame and adulation before dying at the height of his success, leaving a permanent mark on the theatre of his time and foreshadowing the work of many modern dramatists.
