I.R. Taylor

I.R. Taylor (fl. mid 1800s) was a Cape Town amateur performer, manager and playwright.

Also found as J.R. Taylor

He was responsible for the management of Sefton Parry's first season in Cape Town and J.E.H. English's subsequent season in the city.

He was a founding member of the Cape Town Dramatic Club and wrote and produced the play The Snake in the Grass in 1867, (perhaps a dramatization of The Snake in the Grass , a serial novel by Pierce Egan the Younger (The London Journal , 8 May 1858 - 27 Nov. 1858, in No. 720).

F.C.L. Bosman (1980, pp.216, 533) suggests he may have been the anonymous "Gentleman of Cape Town" who wrote The Wraith of Table Mountain, but other sources indicate that it was written by B. Mollan.

He is possibly also one of the co-members of the local Christy's troupe known as the Steele-Leslie-Taylor's Christy's Minstrels.

[TH, JH]

Sources

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 48, 53, 58, 98, 118, 124, 129, 143-5, 150, 153, 157, 168, 177, 180, 194, 215-6, 219, 220, 226, 231, 235, 295, 322.

P.J. du Toit. 1988. Amateurtoneel in Suid-Afrika. Pretoria: Academica

Jill Fletcher. 1994. The Story of Theatre in South Africa: A Guide to its History from 1780-1930. Cape Town: Vlaeberg: pp. 83, 86, 95-6

Go to the ESAT Bibliography

Return to

Return to ESAT Personalities T

Return to South African Theatre Personalities

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page