Sybil Thorndike

**Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson** (24 ga Oktoba 1882 - 9 ga Yuni 1976), 'yar wasan kwaikwayo ce ta Ingila wacce aikinta na mataki ya kasance daga 1904 zuwa 1969.

An horar da ita a lokacin ƙuruciyarta a matsayin mai wasan piano, Thorndike ta juya zuwa mataki lokacin da matsalar kiwon lafiya da hannayenta ta hana aikin kiɗa. Ta fara sana'arta ta sana'a tare da kamfanin mai wasan kwaikwayo-manajan Ben Greet, tare da shi ta zagaya Amurka daga 1904 zuwa 1908. A Burtaniya ta taka leda a tsoffin da sabbin wasanni a kan yawon shakatawa da kuma a West End, sau da yawa tana bayyana tare da mijinta, ɗan wasan kwaikwayo da darektan Lewis Casson . Ta shiga kamfanin Old Vic a lokacin Yaƙin Duniya na farko, kuma a farkon shekarun 1920 George Bernard Shaw, ya burge ta da ganinta a cikin bala'i, ya rubuta *Saint Joan* tare da ita a zuciya. Ta yi fice a ciki da babban nasara. Ta zama sananniya a matsayin babbar mawaƙa ta Burtaniya, amma kuma ta bayyana akai-akai a cikin wasan kwaikwayo.

A lokacin Yaƙin Duniya na Biyu, Thorndike da mijinta sun yi tafiya a cikin shirye-shiryen Shakespeare, suna ɗaukar wasan kwaikwayo na sana'a zuwa yankunan karkara masu nisa a karon farko. Zuwa ƙarshen yaƙin ta haɗu da Ralph Richardson da Laurence Olivier na lokutan biyu da kamfanin Old Vic ya shirya a West End. Bayan yakin ita da Casson sun yi yawon shakatawa da yawa a kasashen waje, suna wasa a Turai, Asiya, Afirka da Ostiraliya. Sun kuma bayyana a Broadway.

An fi saninta da Thorndike a matsayin 'yar wasan kwaikwayo, amma ta yi fina-finai da yawa daga shekarun 1920 zuwa 1960, daga cikinsu The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) da *Uncle Vanya* (1963), duka tare da Olivier. Ta kuma watsa shirye-shirye daga lokaci zuwa lokaci a rediyo da talabijin. Wasanni na karshe da ta yi a shekarar 1969 a gidan wasan kwaikwayo mai suna don girmama ta, Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Thorndike, Leatherhead .

## Shekaru na farko
An haifi Thorndike a ranar 24 ga Oktoba 1882 a Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, babba daga cikin 'ya'ya huɗu na Rev Arthur John Webster Thorndike (1853-1917) da matarsa Agnes Macdonald, née Bowers (1857-1933), 'yar wani ɗan kasuwa. Daga iyayenta biyu Thorndike ta koyi dabi'u na haƙuri da damuwa ga wasu da suka kasance tare da ita a duk rayuwarta. Lokacin da take 'yar shekara biyu an nada mahaifinta a matsayin ƙaramin canon na Rochester Cathedral .  Ta yi karatu a Rochester Grammar School for Girls, kuma ta fara horar da ita a matsayin mai wasan piano na gargajiya, tana ziyartar mako-mako zuwa London don darussan a makarantar Guildhall School of Music . 

A watan Mayu 1899 Thorndike ta ba da wasan kwaikwayo na farko na piano, amma jim kadan bayan haka ta ci gaba da yin amfani da pianist, kuma kodayake ta yi a manyan wuraren kide-kide a London - Bechstein, Steinway da St James's - a shekara ta 1902 ya bayyana a fili cewa aikin kiɗa ba zai yiwu ba. Ta yi karatu don mataki a makarantar wasan kwaikwayo da Ben Greet ke gudanarwa, wanda ya sanya ta don yawon shakatawa na Amurka wanda ya fara a watan Agustan 1904, kafin abin da ta fara aikinta a Cambridge a watan Yuni, a matsayin Palmis a cikin *Fadar Gaskiya* ta W. S. Gilbert. Ta kasance a cikin kamfanin Greet na tsawon shekaru uku tana wasa a cikin Shakespearean repertory a duk faɗin Amurka.

A lokacin da ta dawo Ingila, Bernard Shaw ya hango Thorndike a cikin wasan kwaikwayo na ranar Lahadi a Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Scala a London; ya gayyace ta ta shiga kamfanin don farfado da *Candida* da 'yan wasan Annie Horniman za su ba ta a Belfast. Kamfanin ya kasance a Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Gaiety, Manchester, inda ta fara bayyana a watan Satumbar 1908 a matsayin Bessie Carter a cikin auren Basil Dean an yi shi a sama . Ta taka rawa a wasu wasannin tara da marubuta suka yi daga Euripides zuwa John Galsworthy .  A cikin kamfanin ta sadu, kuma ta kafa haɗin gwiwa tare da, ɗan wasan kwaikwayo Lewis Casson. Sun yi aure a watan Disamba na shekara ta 1908 a cocin mahaifinta. Suna da 'ya'ya mata biyu da' ya'ya maza biyu, dukansu sun tafi kan mataki don wasu ko duk ayyukansu. 

Thorndike ya bayyana a Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Coronet, London, a watan Yunin 1909 tare da kamfanin Horniman, kuma a gidan wasan kwaikwayon Duke na York a watan Maris na 1910 tare da kamfanin Charles Frohman, ya bayyana a can a matsayin Winifred a cikin The Sentimentalists, Emma Huxtable a cikin Madras House, Romp a *Prunella* da Maggie Massey a cikin Chains. Daga nan sai ta tafi New York, inda ta bayyana a Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Empire a watan Satumbar 1910, a matsayin Emily Chapman a *Smith* a gaban John Drew . 

Tsakanin dawowarta Inuwa Burtaniya da barkewar Yaƙin Duniya na farko a shekara ta 1914, Thorndike ta bayyana a West End a Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Aldwych a watan Yunin 1912 a matsayin Beatrice Farrar a Hindle Wakes, kuma a gidan wasan kwaikwayon Playhouse a watan Yulin 1912 a cikin wannan rawar. Ta koma Manchester don kakar wasa ta biyu a Gaiety daga baya a cikin shekarar, tana taka rawa da yawa a wasanni tara.[1] A Gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Kotun da ke Landan a watan Mayu 1913 ta taka rawar gani a cikin Jane Clegg na St John Ervine, kuma a watan Oktoba ta bayyana a duka Manchester da London a matsayin Hester a cikin Eden Phillpotts' The Shadow . [1][2]

## Manazarta