Robert Helpmann

**Sir Robert Murray Helpmann** (an haife shi Helpman) (9 ga Afrilu 1909 - 28 ga Satumba 1986) ya kasance dan wasan ballet na Australiya, ɗan wasan kwaikwayo, kuma darektan. Bayan aikin farko a Ostiraliya ya koma Burtaniya a 1932, inda ya shiga Vic-Wells Ballet (yanzu The Royal Ballet) a karkashin mahaliccinsa, Ninette na Valois. Ya zama daya daga cikin manyan mutanen kamfanin, tare da Alicia Markova kuma daga baya Margot Fonteyn. Lokacin da aka kira Frederick Ashton, babban mai tsara wasan kwaikwayo na kamfanin, don aikin soja a Yaƙin Duniya na Biyu, Helpmann ya maye gurbinsa yayin da yake ci gaba a matsayin babban mai rawa.

Tun daga farkon aikinsa Helpmann ya kasance ɗan wasan kwaikwayo da kuma mai rawa, kuma a cikin shekarun 1940 ya juya zuwa yin wasan kwaikwayo, a Old Vic da West End. Yawancin rawar da ya taka sun kasance a cikin wasan kwaikwayo na Shakespeare amma ya kuma bayyana a cikin ayyukan Shaw, Coward, Sartre da sauransu. A matsayinsa na darektan ya kasance mai faɗi, daga Shakespeare zuwa opera, kiɗa da pantomime.

Helpmann ya zama codirect na Australian Ballet, a shekarar 1965, wanda ya kirkiro sabbin ballets da yawa. Ya zama darektan shi kaɗai a shekara ta 1975 amma rashin jituwa da kwamitin kamfanin ya haifar da korarsa shekara guda bayan haka. Ya ba da umarni ga Opera ta Australiya kuma ya yi wasan kwaikwayo a cikin shekarun 1980. Kodayake da farko mai zane-zane ne, ya bayyana a cikin fina-finai goma sha biyar tsakanin 1942 (*Ɗaya daga cikin Jirginmu ya ɓace*) da 1984 (Lokaci na Biyu), gami da The *Red Shoes*, The Tales of Hoffmann, a matsayin Iblis a cikin fim din wasan kwaikwayo na Igor Stravinsky The Soldier's Tale (L'Histoire du soldat) da kuma a matsayin Child Catcher a Chitty Chitty Bang.

Helpmann ya mutu a Sydney kuma an ba shi jana'izar jihar a Cathedral na St Andrew . Firayim Minista, Bob Hawke, ya ba da haraji a Majalisar dokokin Ostiraliya, kuma an zartar da motsi na ta'aziyya - haraji mai ban sha'awa ga wanda ba ɗan siyasa ba. Ana tunawa da Helpmann a cikin Kyautar Helpmann don zane-zane na Australiya, wanda aka kafa don girmama shi a shekara ta 2001.

## Rayuwa da aiki

### Shekaru na farko

An haifi Helpmann a Dutsen Gambier, Kudancin Ostiraliya, babba daga cikin 'ya'ya uku na James Murray Helpman (1881-1927), wakilin hannun jari da tashar kuma mai siyarwa, da matarsa, Mary, née Gardiner (1883-1970).  Mary Helpman tana da sha'awar gidan wasan kwaikwayo, kuma an ba da sha'awa ga dukkan 'ya'yanta uku. Yaron ɗan'uwan Helpmann Max (1914-1987) da 'yar'uwarsu Sheila (1916-1994) dukansu sun yi nasu sana'a a kan mataki, talabijin da allo.

Bayan kasancewa abin da mai ba da labarinsa Kathrine Sorley Walker ya kira "masanin da ba shi da sha'awa kuma mai saurin ra'ayi" a Kwalejin Prince Alfred, Adelaide, Anna Pavlova ta ɗauki Helpmann a matsayin ɗalibi lokacin da take yawon shakatawa a Ostiraliya a 1926. Alexis Dolinoff ne ya horar da shi, babban dan wasan namiji. Daga nan sai ya shiga masu shirya wasan kwaikwayo na J. C. Williamson Ltd, a matsayin babban mai rawa don kiɗa, sake dubawa, da pantomimes, wanda ya fara da *Frasquita* na Franz Lehár a 1927. Daga baya ya bayyana a cikin *Katinka*, The Merry Widow, The New Moon, Queen High, This Year of Grace da Tip-Toes, yana bayyana tare da taurari kamar Gladys Moncrieff, Marie Burke da Maisie Gay. Sorley Walker ya rubuta, "Halinsa da jaruntakarsa na raye-raye sun dakatar da shirye-shirye daban-daban".

Robert Helpmann ya ambaci Melbourne mai ban sha'awa, mai kyawawan abubuwa, mai watsa shirye-shiryen rediyo, ɗan wasan kwaikwayo da mai rawa Stephanie Deste a matsayin ɗaya daga cikin tasirinsa akan rawa da aikinsa na wasan kwaikwayo.

### Vic-Wells Ballet
'Yar wasan kwaikwayo ta Ingila Margaret Rawlings, wacce ke yawon shakatawa a Ostiraliya, Helpmann ya burge ta. Ta karfafa masa gwiwa ya bi aiki a Burtaniya, kuma ta ba shi gabatarwa ga Ninette de Valois, darektan Vic-Wells Ballet (daga baya ake kira Sadler's Wells Ballet). Helpmann ya bar Ostiraliya a 1932, kuma bai dawo ba sai 1955. De Valois ya yarda da shi a cikin kamfaninta. Ya burge ta - daga baya ta rubuta "Duk abin da ya shafi shi ya yi shelar haihuwar mai zane"  - kodayake ta lura ba kawai ƙarfinsa ba har ma da raunin sa: "mai basira, mai ƙwazo, mai basira sosai, mai basirar gaske, mai ban sha'awa, mai kyau kamar biri, mai sauri kamar squirrel, jin wasan kwaikwayo da nasarorin da kansa a ciki" amma "a fannin fasaha, ba shi da hankali, yana son lokaci mai kyau kuma yana da yawa". A tsakiyar shekarun 1930, mai yiwuwa a shawarar Rawlings, ya kara da "n" na biyu ga sunansa, don ba shi iska ta waje da kuma iska mai ban mamaki.

### Manazarta