George Humphrey Wolferstan Rylands (23 October 1902 – 16 January 1999), known as Dadie Rylands, was a British literary scholar and theatre director. Rylands was born at the Down House,

Tockington Tockington is a village in South Gloucestershire, England. Historically the village developed around farming based mainly on the rearing of cattle on the fertile flood plains. In more recent times Tockington has become an attractive location for ...

, Gloucestershire, to Thomas Kirkland Rylands, a

land agent Land agent may be used in at least three different contexts. Traditionally, a land agent was a managerial employee who conducted the business affairs of a large estate (house), landed estate for a member of the landed gentry, supervising the farmi ...

, and Bertha Nisbet Wolferstan (née Thomas). His grandfather was the Liberal politician

Peter Rylands Peter Rylands (18 January 1820 – 8 February 1887) was an English wire-manufacturer in Lancashire and a Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was active in local government and sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Co ...

. Educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, he was a Fellow of King's from 1927 until his death. While at Cambridge, he became a friend of John Maynard Keynes, also a student and Fellow at King’s. He also befriended Cecil Beaton there. As well as studying Shakespeare, he was actively involved in the theatre. He directed and acted in many productions for The Marlowe Society, and was chairman of the Cambridge Arts Theatre from 1946 to 1982. Rylands' 1939 Shakespeare anthology ''Ages of Man'' was the basis of John Gielgud's one-man show of the same title. Though Rylands specialised in directing university productions at Cambridge, he also directed Gielgud in professional productions of ''

The Duchess of Malfi ''The Duchess of Malfi'' (originally published as ''The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy'') is a Jacobean revenge tragedy written by English dramatist John Webster in 1612–1613. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, ...

'' and '' Hamlet'' in London in 1945. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1961 and a

Companion of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...

(CH) in 1987.

References

External links

George Rylands
at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography British theatre directors 1902 births 1999 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English theatre directors Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour People educated at Eton College People from South Gloucestershire District Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of King's College, Cambridge {{UK-academic-bio-stub