As a child growing up in London with parents who were in the theatre, I naturally knew of the grand old theatre Dame, Sybil Thorndike. I don't have any memory of actually meeting her, but I certainly saw her perform in various productions, sometimes wearing costumes designed by my mother, and also caught sight of her on many occasions -- at the theatre or in the street -- always accompanied by her even more ancient husband Sir Lewis Casson. But I really didn't know much about her beyond the fact that one of her most famous parts was St Joan, in the play specially written for her by Bernard Shaw. So I was pleased to be sent this new biography to review, though somewhat overwhelmed to see that it was 584 pages long. However I soon got completely caught up in it and came away totally won over by this extraordinary woman.
Sybil Thorndike was born in 1882, the daughter of a Canon of Rochester Cathedral. This might seem an unpromising background, but in fact her father was passionate about theatre and her mother both musical and ambitious. Sibyl showed an early talent for the piano, and trained throughout her teenage years to become a concert pianist, only to be prevented from continuing by a wrist injury. Instead, encouraged by her equally stage struck younger brother Russell, she enrolled at a London acting academy and was soon barnstorming around America for three years, during which time she played over 100 Shakespearean parts. She spent three years acting in Manchester before becoming the leading lady at the Old Vic Theatre during World War I, and after the war became a huge star, playing not only St Joan but also several important tragic roles on Greek plays. Made a Dame of the British Empire in 1931, she was frequently seen on the West End stage, but in fact she was almost happier on tours of the British provinces, or of America, or of Australia, New Zealand and India, all of which places she continued to visit throughout her astonishingly long career. Her final appearance, in a TV play, was in 1970, at the age of 88, though she lived another six years, finally departing at the great age of 93.
All this is fascinating, and a tremendous resource for anyone who wants to know about the history of the British theatre throughout the twentieth century. But Jonathan Croall's exemplary biography goes far beyond the bare facts of Sibyl's theatre career. She was woman who cared deeply about the injustices of the world, and worked as hard as she knew how to help to put them right. She was a suffragette at the beginning of the century, and a protester for nuclear disarmament in her 80s. She was a pacifist and a socialist, and supported many disadvantaged groups, from striking miners to blacks suffering under apartheid. She visited leper colonies, held the hands of dying children in Belsen after the war, was blacklisted by Hitler for her political activities. She was one of the founders of the theatre union Equity. Vital, emotional, warm, caring, with apparently boundless energy and enthusiasm, she was an extraordinary combination of innocent goodness -- she and Lewis always prayed together before a performance -- and a non-judgmental understanding of the difficulties, personal and sexual, faced by many of her contemporaries. She adored her husband Lewis despite his seemingly rather numerous infidelities, and managed to be a tremendous mother to their four children and a much loved grandmother, aunt and great-aunt to many others.
Several hundred people, including many of Sibyl's descendants, contributed to the making of this biography, and Jonathan Croall certainly must have read many hundreds, if not thousands, of letters and other memorabilia. It would have been easy to be swamped by all this material, but he has assembled it in an impressively readable way. If you'd like to hear a bit more about the book and his research process, you can read the text of a lecture he gave recently to the Society for Theatre Research. But best of all, read the book! It is highly recommended.
