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Morton Tavares: Jamaican and International Actor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2009

Errol Hill
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Extract

It is not widely known that the Caribbean island of Jamaica enjoys a tradition of live theatre that may well be second to none in the English-speaking world, save only in England itself. Conquered from Spain in 1655, the island boasted an active theatre as early as 1682, not very long after public playgoing had returned to England following the Cromwellian interregnum. Records are silent about theatre for the next several decades, but by the 1730s troupers from England had begun regular visits which culminated in the two long residencies of the famed Hallam Company that came to Virginia from London in 1752. Under the senior Hallam the company journeyed to Jamaica in 1754 and remained there, after Hallam's death, until 1758 when they returned to America, led by David Douglass. Again from 1775 to 1785 the company sojourned in Jamaica, waiting out the War of Independence, this time under Lewis Hallam junior. The record of their performances in the island has been chronicled in Richardson Wright's book Revels in Jamaica (1937), which has recently been reissued.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Research International , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1990 , pp. 213 - 223
Copyright
Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 1990

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References

Notes

1. New York Dramatic Mirror, 7 07 1900.Google Scholar See also an address by Alfred Cork entitled ‘Reminiscences of Morton Tavares’ that was published serially in the Jamaica Times on 9 01, 13 and 20 03 1915.Google Scholar

2. Daily Advertiser, Kingston, 8 08 1857.Google Scholar

3. Ibid., 14 September 1857.

4. Ibid., 9 February 1858.

5. Ibid., 4 November 1858.

6. Jamaica Tribune, 18 02 1860.Google Scholar

7. Jamaica Times, 9 01 1915.Google Scholar

8. London Times, 29 12 1869.Google Scholar

9. The Era, London, 19 05 1872.Google Scholar

10. Cork reports that ‘at this time occurred a crushing domestic bereavement, greatly his own fault, which led Tavares to see: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again’. Jamaica Times, 9 01 1915.Google Scholar

11. Natal Mercantile Advertiser, 14, 17 and 21 03 1882.Google Scholar

12. Natal Witness, 3 04 1882.Google Scholar I am indebted to Professor D. Schauflfer of the University of Durban-Westville for information on Tavares's performances in Natal province.

13. Ibid.

14. Jamaica Times, 9 01 1915.Google Scholar

15. Natal Mercantile Advertiser, 14 03 1882.Google Scholar

16. Jamaica Times, 20 03 1915.Google Scholar

17. Ibid., 9 January 1915.