Edith Evans

**Dame Edith Mary Evans** (8 ga Fabrairu 1888 - 14 ga Oktoba 1976) 'yar wasan kwaikwayo ce ta Ingila. An fi saninta da aikinta a matakin West End, amma kuma ta fito a fina-finai a farkon da kuma ƙarshen aikinta. Tsakanin 1964 da 1968, an zabi ta don lambar yabo ta Kwalejin sau uku.

Ayyukan Evans na mataki ya kai shekaru sittin, a lokacin da ta taka rawa sama da 100, a cikin litattafan Shakespeare, Congreve, Goldsmith, Sheridan da Wilde, da kuma wasan kwaikwayo na marubutan zamani ciki har da Bernard Shaw, Enid Bagnold, Christopher Fry da Noël Coward. Ta kirkiro matsayi a cikin wasannin Shaw guda biyu: Orinthia a cikin The Apple Cart (1929), da Epifania a cikin The Millionairess (1940) kuma ta kasance a cikin firamare na Burtaniya na wasu biyu: Heartbreak House (1921) da Back to Methuselah (1923).

Evans ta zama sananniya sosai don nuna mata masu girman kai, kamar yadda a cikin shahararrun matsayinta guda biyu a matsayin Lady Bracknell a cikin Muhimmancin Kasancewa Mai Girma, da Miss Western a fim din 1963 na Tom Jones . A lokacin da ta yi aiki a matsayin Lady Bracknell, ta yi amfani da layin 'A handbag' ya zama daidai da wasan Oscar Wilde. Sabanin haka, ta taka rawar budurwa a cikin The Late Christopher Bean (1933), tsohuwar mace mai ban sha'awa, matalauciya a cikin The Whisperers (1967) kuma - ɗaya daga cikin shahararrun matsayinta - Nurse a cikin Romeo da Juliet, wanda ta taka a cikin shirye-shirye huɗu tsakanin 1926 da 1961.

## Rayuwa da aiki

### Shekaru na farko
An haifi Evans a Pimlico, London, 'yar Edward Evans, ƙaramin ma'aikacin gwamnati a Babban Ofishin Jakadancin, da matarsa, Caroline Ellen née Foster . Tana da ɗan'uwa ɗaya, ɗan'uwa wanda ya mutu yana da shekaru huɗu. Ta yi karatu a makarantar St Michael's Church of England, Pimlico, kafin a koya mata aiki tana da shekaru 15 a 1903 a matsayin mai yin amfani da kayan aiki. Ta yi sharhi a cikin shekaru masu zuwa cewa tana son kayan aiki masu arziki da kyawawan kayan sana'a, amma ba za ta iya yin hular biyu ba. Yayinda take aiki a shagon milliner a cikin City ta fara halartar darussan wasan kwaikwayo a Victoria; darussan sun ci gaba zuwa ƙungiyar wasan kwaikwayo, Streatham Shakespeare Players, tare da ita ta fara fitowa a mataki na farko a watan Oktoba 1910, a matsayin Viola a cikin Twelfth Night . A shekara ta 1912, tana wasa da Beatrice a cikin Much Ado About Nothing, mai gabatarwa William Poel ya hango ta kuma ta fara fitowa a Cambridge a watan Agusta na wannan shekarar; ta buga Gautami a cikin Birni na 6 na Hindu, *Sakuntalá*, a cikin simintin da ya hada da matashi Nigel Playfair. Poel sa'an nan kuma ya jefa ta a matsayin Cressida a *Troilus da Cressida* da ke London sannan kuma a Stratford-upon-Avon . Mai sukar The Manchester Guardian ya sami maganganunta bai isa ba, amma in ba haka ba ya amince: "Miss Edith Evans, wanda, ba tare da kyakkyawar sha'awa ga Cressida ba, ya ba da wasan kwaikwayo mai ban sha'awa".

Farkon West End na Evans ya kasance a cikin *Elizabeth Cooper* na George Moore a 1913. [n 1] Wasan ya sami sanarwa mara kyau, amma an yaba wa Evans: "A cikin ƙaramin ɓangaren yarinya Miss Edith Evans ta sami nasarar da rana ta samu. Ta sanya mafi yawa a cikin 'taurari' da aka amince da su fiye da yadda yawancin 'tauraron' da za su iya ba da shawara a cikin manyan sassa. "  A watan Janairun shekara ta 1914 ta fara aikinta na Shakespeare a matsayin Gertrude a *Hamlet*.