Tom Taylor was one of the most successful and popular playwrights of the Victorian theatre. His plays are humorous and theatrically powerful, showing a social concern that was advanced for his times - particularly on matters such as the rehabilitation of criminals and corruption in public life. Taylor's work at the bar, in the civil service, and as a journalist and art critic inspired themes which he dramatized in more than seventy plays. Four of the best known are collected in this volume, the only edition of Taylor's works available. They are Still Waters Run Deep (1855), The Contested Election (1859), The Overland Route (1860) and the most popular, revived in modern productions at the National Theatre and the Victoria Theatre in Stoke, The Ticket-of-Leave Man (1863). Martin Banham discusses these and others in his introduction, and lists the original London cast at the beginning of each play. He provides a biographical record of Taylor's life and a list of all the principal plays. There are illustrations and a bibliography.
