Madge Kendal

**Dame Madge Kendal** DBE (an haife ta **Margaret Shafto Robertson**; 15 Maris 1848 - 14 Satumba 1935) 'yar wasan kwaikwayo ce ta Ingila ta zamanin Victorian da Edwardian, wacce aka fi sani da rawar da ta taka a Shakespeare da wasan kwaikwayo na Ingilishi. Tare da mijinta, W. H. Kendal (an haife ta William Hunter Grimston), ta zama muhimmiyar manajan gidan wasan kwaikwayo.

Madge Kendal ta fito ne daga dangin wasan kwaikwayo. An haife ta ne a Grimsby a Lincolnshire, inda mahaifinta ke gudanar da jerin gidajen wasan kwaikwayo. Ta fara aiki tun tana ƙarama kuma ta fara bugawa London tana da shekaru huɗu. Yayinda take matashiya ta bayyana tare da Ellen da Kate Terry a Bath, kuma ta buga Shakespeare's Ophelia da Desdemona a West End . A karkashin jagorancin J. B. Buckstone, ta shiga kamfanin Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Haymarket a London a 1869, lokacin da take da shekaru 21. Yayinda take cikin kamfanin ta sadu kuma ta auri ɗan wasan kwaikwayo W. H. Kendal . Bayan aurensu, a watan Agustan 1869, biyun sun sanya doka don bayyana a cikin wannan samarwa, kuma sun zama sanannun jama'a da "The Kendals". Sun bayyana tare a cikin sababbin wasannin da irin waɗannan masu wasan kwaikwayo kamar W. S. Gilbert da Arthur Pinero, kuma daga lokaci zuwa lokaci a cikin litattafan Shakespeare, Sheridan da sauransu.

Bayan jerin bayyanar da suka samu nasara a Landan da kuma yawon shakatawa a Burtaniya, Kendals sun shiga cikin ɗan wasan kwaikwayo John Hare a gudanar da Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na St James tsakanin 1879 da 1888, suna canza yanayin gidan wasan kwaikwayon su, wanda aka sani da gazawar kuɗi. A ƙarshen 1880s da farkon 1890s Kendals sun shafe yawancin lokacin su a Amurka, suna yawon shakatawa fiye da birane 40, kuma suna samun kuɗi mai yawa. Bayan sun koma yin wasan kwaikwayo a Burtaniya sama da shekaru goma, sun yi ritaya a 1908 daga dogon aikin su a kan mataki.

Madge Kendal an dauke ta a matsayin mai wasan kwaikwayo mafi kyau fiye da mijinta, kuma an san ta musamman saboda wasan kwaikwayon da ta yi a sassa masu ban dariya. Ra'ayi mai mahimmanci ya fi rarrabuwa game da ayyukanta a cikin matsayi mai tsanani; wasu masu sukar sun ɗauki aikinta na halitta a matsayin mai hankali, yayin da wasu suka sami sanyi. Kendals sun kasance wani ɓangare na motsi don yin gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Burtaniya mafi mutunci ga jama'a, kuma an san ta da "matron na gidan wasan kwaikwayo ya Ingila". Ta kasance mai aiki a cikin ayyukan agaji amma ta rabu da 'ya'yanta huɗu da suka tsira daga baya a rayuwa. Kendal ta mutu bayan mijinta kuma ta mutu a lokacin da ta yi ritaya a gidanta a Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, tana da shekaru 87.

## Rayuwa da aiki

### Shekaru na farko
Madge Robertson, daga baya Kendal, *An haife ta*  Grimsby a Lincolnshire,   ƙarami daga cikin 'ya'ya 22 da aka ruwaito na William Shaftoe Robertson da matarsa Margharetta Elisabetta, née Marinus. Mahaifinta ya fito ne daga dangin wasan kwaikwayo. Ya yi wasan kwaikwayo a gidajen wasan kwaikwayo takwas da iyalinsa ke da su a garuruwa a ciki da kewayen Lincolnshire kuma daga baya ya zama manajan wannan. Mahaifiyarta ta fito ne daga dangin Dutch: mahaifinta ya koyar da harsuna a London, kuma tana magana da Turanci ba tare da wata alama ta harshen waje ba. A lokacin da take da shekaru 17, ta shiga kamfanin Robertsons, ta sadu da William, wanda ta auri a 1828.  Babban ɗan'uwanta shine T. W. Robertson, ɗan wasan kwaikwayo wanda ya jagoranci motsi zuwa ga wasan kwaikwayo na halitta da ƙira a cikin gidan wasan kwaikwayo. 'Yan uwanta Fanny (1830-1903) da Georgina (1840-1913) sun zama' yan wasan kwaikwayo. Wani ɗan'uwa, Edward Shafto Robertson (1844-1871), ya zama ɗan wasan kwaikwayo. Kendal ta halarci makarantar kiɗa  kuma daga baya ta rubuta a cikin tarihinta cewa mahaifinta ya ci gaba da ilimantar da ita a cikin adabi. 

Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Lincolnshire a hankali ya zama ba shi da kuɗi, kuma Robertsons sun koma London a farkon shekarun 1850, inda William ya zama manajan haɗin gwiwa na Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Marylebone .  A can, a shekara ta 1854, tana da shekaru biyar, Kendal ta taka rawar yarinya Marie a cikin wasan kwaikwayo The Struggle for Gold; ko, The Orphan of the Frozen Sea na Edward Stirling, a karkashin jagorancin mahaifinta. Sauran rawar yara da sauri suka *Baƙo* baya: Jeannie, yarinya makaho, a cikin Matafiya Bakwai (wani mataki na labarin Charles Dickens),  da kuma rawar da ya taka a cikin pantomime *Tit-Tat-Toe* da tsohuwar melodrama, The Stranger, ta Agusta von Kotzebue. 

Iyalin sun koma Bristol a shekara ta 1855, inda Kendal ta buga Eva a cikin wasan kwaikwayo na Uncle Tom's Cabin, inda take da waƙoƙi huɗu. An yaba wa waƙarta sosai, kuma aikin wasan kwaikwayo ya zama mai yiwuwa, amma ta kamu da cutar diphtheria, kuma muryarta ta sha wahala bayan cire tonsils. Duk da haka, ta taka rawar waka a cikin A Midsummer Night's Dream a gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Bath a 1863, tare da 'yan'uwa mata Ellen da Kate Terry a matsayin Titania da Oberon, bi da bi. Shekaru saba'in bayan haka Kendal ta tuna da samarwar: "Ko da a yau ina tunawa da wasan kwaikwayon Ellen Terry na Titania a matsayin mafarki na sha'awa. A matsayin 'yan mata mun kasance 'Nellie' da 'Madge' ga juna kuma 'Nellia' da 'madge' mun kasance har zuwa mutuwarta".

A cikin wannan shekaru goma, Robertsons sun yi wasa a hankali a cikin gidan wasan kwaikwayo na lardin. Bayan Bristol da Bath akwai farkon ƙarya a cikin aikin Kendal lokacin da ta yi alkawarin taka muhimmiyar rawa a West End. A watan Yulin 1865 ta buɗe a Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Haymarket, tana wasa da Ophelia ga Hamlet na Walter Montgomery . Ayyukanta sun jawo hankalin sanarwa mai kyau. The Era ya rubuta:

: Miss Madge Robertson ... matashi ce, amma an horar da ita sosai a cikin fasaharta, kuma tana da fuska mai haske, mai basira, wanda kamar yana iya bayyana kowane irin motsin rai. An fassara yanayin hauka a cikin mataki na huɗu tare da ɗanɗano mai yawa, tausayi da nuna bambanci, kuma debutante ya sami rabon girmamawa na maraice.

A cikin wannan lokacin Haymarket ta buga Blanche ga Montgomery's King John, da Desdemona ga Othello na Ira Aldridge . [1] Amma duk da kyakkyawan kasuwanci a ofishin akwatin, Montgomery ba ta kasance tauraruwa ce ta farko ba, kuma kakar ba ta nuna ci gaba a cikin aikin mata ba. Komawa zuwa gidan wasan kwaikwayo na lardin, Kendal da mahaifinta sun bi Montgomery zuwa gidan wasan kwaikwayon Royal, Nottingham, inda aka nada Montgomery a matsayin darektan, kuma a cikin rantsar da shi a watan Satumba ta yi magana da gabatarwa a Makarantar Sheridan don Scandal . [2] Daga baya a wannan shekarar ta bayyana a matsayin Nerissa, tare da Mary Frances Scott-Siddons a matsayin Portia da Montgomery a matsayin Shylock, a cikin The Merchant of Venice . [3]

A shekara ta gaba Kendal ta koma mahaifiyarta a Hull. A can ta buga Lady Macbeth a gaban Samuel Phelps .  A cikin wasan kwaikwayo na ɗan'uwanta T. W. Robertson, Kendal ta buga Maud Hetherington, yayin da mahaifiyarta Lady Ptarmigant ce. Bayan Hull, Kendal ta tafi tare da mahaifinta zuwa Liverpool, inda ta fito a Shakespeare, Sheridan da wasannin zamani.

### Manazarta