The Erik Kuttner Award , known as the Erik Award , was an annual drama critics' award for professional theatre in Melbourne, Australia . Established in 1955, the award had categories for actors, actresses, producers (directors) and designers. It operated through to 1981.
66-541: The award statuette was designed by Julius Kuhn and was named after Erik Kuttner (died 1954), an actor and producer, commemorating his work in Melbourne theatre. The first ceremony in 1955, featured an appearance by British actress Dame Sybil Thorndike , who presented the best actor and actresses awards. The Erik Awards were succeeded by the Green Room Awards which started in 1982. This article about
132-419: A theatre award is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Dame Sybil Thorndike Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson , CH , DBE (24 October 1882 – 9 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her hands ruled out
198-651: A Lamp (Miss Bosanquet, 1951), The Magic Box (the Aristocratic Client, 1951), Melba (Queen Victoria, 1953), The Weak and the Wicked (Mabel, 1953), The Prince and the Showgirl (The Queen Dowager, 1957), Alive and Kicking (Dora, 1958), Smiley Gets a Gun (Granny, 1958), Shake Hands with the Devil (Lady Fitzhugh, 1959) and Jet Storm (Emma Morgan, 1959). Among her television appearances
264-804: A medium to express her! She's bigger than that". Casson died in May 1969, and Thorndike's only stage role after that was in the inaugural performance of the theatre named in her honour, the Thorndike Theatre , Leatherhead, in October of that year, as the Woman in There Was an Old Woman by John Graham. She was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1970. Her last public appearance
330-569: A melodrama, Sun Up . When the Second World War began in September 1939, Thorndike, a convinced pacifist , protested against the conflict, but recognised that while it lasted the populace needed entertainment. In 1940 she took part in a film of Shaw's Major Barbara as General Baines, after which she and Casson joined a touring Old Vic company taking Macbeth to even the remotest corners of Wales. As there were few available hotels
396-528: A mixture of which Mr Marx might disapprove". Corin Redgrave recalled, "Her shining spirit came through almost everything she did. She never wavered in her humanitarian Christian socialist beliefs". Giving the address at her memorial service, Gielgud called Thorndike "the most loved actress since Ellen Terry ". Her obituarist in The Times said the same. Croall and many others have concurred. Opinion
462-906: A mostly Shakespearean repertory. According to her biographer Jonathan Croall she played "most of the main female characters" and – with a shortage of young actors during the war – she took six male roles including Prince Hal in Henry IV Part 1 , the Fool in King Lear , Ferdinand in The Tempest and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream . Her non-Shakespearean roles included Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal , Peg Woffington in Masks and Faces , Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer ,
528-660: A musical career. She began her professional acting career with the company of the actor-manager Ben Greet , with whom she toured the US from 1904 to 1908. In Britain she played in old and new plays on tour and in the West End , often appearing with her husband, the actor and director Lewis Casson . She joined the Old Vic company during the First World War , and in the early 1920s George Bernard Shaw , impressed by seeing her in
594-545: A performance, and told his wife, "I have found my Joan". He was planning a play about Joan of Arc , which he completed in 1923. It was his custom to open his plays on Broadway before their West End premieres, and the first actress to play his Joan was Winifred Lenihan , but the part was written with Thorndike in mind. Saint Joan opened at the New Theatre in March 1924. Thorndike's performance received praise from
660-481: A queen" − and her expressed view was, "No actor has any business to say that they won't tour, it's part of our work". In 1936 the couple toured in plays by Euripides, Shaw, Noël Coward and D. H. Lawrence , and followed this with a tour of a new play, Six Men of Dorset , by Miles Malleson and Harvey Brooks the following year. In 1938 Thorndike appeared in New York as Mrs Conway in J. B. Priestley 's Time and
726-673: A tour of Egypt, Palestine, Australia and New Zealand, in which she appeared in the satirical comedy Advertising April ; Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion ; Ghosts ; Clemence Dane 's Granite ; Macbeth ; a romantic comedy, Madame Plays Nap ; Milestones ; The Painted Veil ; Saint Joan and Sidney Howard 's domestic drama The Silver Chord . In the West End in September 1933 Thorndike appeared in The Distaff Side , by John van Druten , which she took to Broadway
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#1732786678290792-512: A tragedy, wrote Saint Joan with her in mind. She starred in it with great success. She became known as Britain's leading tragedienne, but also appeared frequently in comedy. During the Second World War , Thorndike and her husband toured in Shakespeare productions, taking professional theatre to remote rural locations for the first time. Towards the end of the war she joined Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier for two seasons staged by
858-463: A writer of wide range, who was as comfortable with human drama as with the comedies for which he is most famous. Although The Palace of Truth has substantial comic elements, it has the structure and feel of a drama. The play was one of Gilbert's most successful works prior to his collaboration with Arthur Sullivan . The play ran for approximately 140 performances at the Haymarket, a long run at
924-513: Is more divided about Thorndike's qualities as an actress. Sheridan Morley enlarged on Gielgud's comment, writing that she was not only the most loved actress but "one might add also the best". Gielgud thought her very fine in her playing of tragedy − "she was one of the few actresses of her generation who dared even to attempt it [and] riveted her audiences with her superb authority and vocal power" − but he thought her inclined to "hit too hard" in comedy. Hallam Tennyson felt "she over-elocuted: she
990-526: Is moved by Mirza's speech. She goes forward and puts Mirza's hand in the Prince's and sets him free. The Prince gives Mirza a ring as a pledge of his love and wants one in return – a handkerchief or a glove. She brings forth a handkerchief from her pocket and the crystal talisman falls out. Mirza tells him that it is the talisman; she took it from the King and put the false one in its place. The King arrives, and
1056-748: The Bechstein , Steinway and St James's halls – by 1902 it was clear that a musical career would be impossible. She studied for the stage at the drama school run by Ben Greet , who engaged her for an American tour beginning in August 1904, in advance of which she made her professional début at Cambridge in June, as Palmis in W. S. Gilbert 's The Palace of Truth . She remained in Greet's company for three years playing in Shakespearean repertory throughout
1122-688: The Edinburgh Festival (1950), and without Casson, Thorndike starred with her old friend Edith Evans in N. C. Hunter 's Waters of the Moon . The play, described by Croall as "a cosy middle-class drama [with] certain elements of Chekhov ", received tepid reviews but proved popular with audiences and ran for 835 performances at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket between 1951 and 1953. The Cassons rejoined forces in Hunter's next play, A Day by
1188-891: The Empire Theatre in September 1910, as Emily Chapman in Smith opposite John Drew . Between her return to Britain and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Thorndike appeared in the West End at the Aldwych Theatre in June 1912 as Beatrice Farrar in Hindle Wakes , and at the Playhouse Theatre in July 1912 in the same role. She returned to Manchester for a second season at the Gaiety later in
1254-591: The Haymarket Theatre in London on 19 November 1870, adapted in significant part from Madame de Genlis 's fairy story, Le Palais de Vérite . The play ran for approximately 140 performances and then toured the British provinces and enjoyed various revivals even well into the 20th century. There was also a New York production in 1910. After more than a century of inquiry, researchers in 2012 concluded that
1320-692: The 1960s Thorndike appeared in three films, as Lady Caroline in Hand in Hand (1960), Aunt Cathleen in The Big Gamble (1961), and as Marina in a film adaptation of Olivier's Chichester production of Uncle Vanya (1963). The television was not her favourite medium – she found it restricting – although she had a success in 1965 as Mrs Moore in a BBC adaptation of E. M. Forster 's A Passage to India . Forster congratulated her on her performance, but she replied, "I loved Mrs Moore, but I am not wild about TV as
1386-468: The Angel Gabriel in the mystery play The Star of Bethlehem , and Nancy in a stage version of Oliver Twist adapted by her brother Russell , who was the leading man of the company. Together, the siblings wrote and co-starred in two revues for the company: The Sausage String's Romance, or a New Cut Harlequinade and Seaman's Pie, a Naval Review of Revues and Other Things . After leaving
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#17327866782901452-511: The Conways , and in London as Volumnia in the Old Vic production of Coriolanus with Olivier in the title role as her son. In the West End she created the role of Miss Moffat in the long-running The Corn is Green (1938) by Emlyn Williams . According to The Times , this play "showed her at the top of her form as an English spinster with a vocation for teaching, and obtained for her and
1518-650: The Encyclopædia Britannica and translated it into blank-verse, as follows): Act I – The garden of the King's Country House. The Queen is upset because the Princess is to become engaged tomorrow to the Prince but seems not to love him. The Prince speaks flowery words of love to the Princess. The Queen, jealous, wonders why the King visits the Palace of Truth once a month, while she has never been there in eighteen years of marriage. The King reveals that
1584-698: The Justice's Lady in The Critic . Between August 1944 and April 1946 the company played in London and toured for the armed forces in Belgium, Germany and France. After the defeat of Germany in 1945 a Nazi blacklist was found in Berlin, naming eminent people to be arrested after an invasion of Britain. Among them was Thorndike, as a prominent member of the National Council for Civil Liberties . When
1650-473: The King reveals that he made love to Mirza in the shrubbery and Mirza admits that she hates the King, he realises that his talisman is not working. Now the King wants to leave! Act III – On the Avenue of Palms at night Chrysal has a sword and is ready for the duel with Zoram. Zoram arrives, and the two combatants tell each other, with great bravado, how afraid they are of each other. Gelanor tells them that
1716-510: The Maid as Mr Shaw conceives her" but thought she missed "the sweetness and simplicity of the Maid's replies and demeanour in the trial scene" though driving home Joan's "distress, her alertness, her courage". In The Observer , Lennox Robinson wrote that Thorndike's performance "was beautiful, was entirely satisfying. Mr Shaw was, indeed, nobly served." The initial London production ran for 244 performances, and Thorndike starred in revivals over
1782-1018: The Old Vic company Thorndike was engaged by C. B. Cochran , and appeared at the Oxford Music Hall , London, in June 1918 as Françoise in a sketch, "The Kiddies in the Ruins", which was introduced into The Better 'Ole . In various West End theatres during 1919 she appeared as Sygne de Coûfontaine in The Hostage , Naomi Melsham in The Chinese Puzzle , Clara Bortswick in The Great Day , Anne Wickham in Napoleon and in October she played Hecuba in The Trojan Women , adding to her growing reputation as Britain's leading tragedienne. Praising her as "a new leading lady" for
1848-528: The Old Vic company in the West End. After the war she and Casson made many overseas tours, playing in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. They also appeared on Broadway . Thorndike was mainly known as a stage actress, but made several films from the 1920s to the 1960s, among them The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) and Uncle Vanya (1963), both with Olivier. She also broadcast from time to time on radio and television. Her last stage appearances were in 1969 at
1914-598: The Old Vic company played a season in New York in 1946 Thorndike chose to remain in England to appear with Casson. They were in Priestley's The Linden Tree in 1947, in which year Thorndike played Mrs Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby for the cinema, followed by another film, Britannia Mews in 1948, as Mrs Mouncey. In the theatre Thorndike and Casson were in a revival of John Home 's tragedy Douglas at
1980-411: The Palace makes one say what he thinks . Zoram and Chrysal decide that thoughts are not important. They shake hands. The Queen talks with old Gelanor, and Azema goes to tell the King of this meeting. The Princess begs Mirza to let her have the Prince, and Mirza says she will do so and then go away. She tells him of her love for him and adds that she is going away. The Princess reenters unobserved, and
2046-453: The Prince gives him the talisman. He tells the Queen she has been found with Gelanor. The Queen truthfully says that it was an innocent meeting. The Queen asks the King if he had been philandering with Azema and, because he has the talisman, he is able to lie, denying it. The Queen apologises. The Prince admits that he has been a fool. The King give the talisman to the Prince but he gives it to
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2112-601: The Princess is unhappy. Azema timidly reveals that she wants to try her charms on the Prince. The Prince rejects her, so Azema tries to charm Chrysal. The Prince decides that the palace must be enchanted and shows up human nature as it is and everybody is affected by it, but he doesn't realise that the enchantment affects him. He tells Mirza that he loves her and then reveals this to the Princess. She breaks their bond and gives him his freedom and then pleads with him to take her back and give her until that night. Other characters confess love for each other in strange pairings. After
2178-830: The Princess of France in Henry V . In the 1920s Thorndike entered films, appearing in four: as Mrs Brand in Moth and Rust (1921), various parts in Tense Moments from Great Plays (1922), Edith Cavell in Dawn (1928) and the Mother in To What Red Hell (1929). In 1923 she made her first radio broadcasts for the BBC ; during the decade these included two of her best-known stage roles: Medea and Saint Joan. Thorndike's roles of
2244-703: The Sea (1953), directed by and co-starring John Gielgud . Like its predecessor, the play appealed more to the public than to the critics, and ran for 386 performances at the Haymarket. During the mid- and late-1950s Thorndike and Casson were seen more abroad than at home. They toured the Far East, New Zealand and India in 1954, giving dramatic recitals. Together with Richardson they toured Australia and New Zealand in 1955, presenting The Sleeping Prince and Separate Tables . The couple toured southern Africa, Kenya, Israel, and Turkey in 1956, giving dramatic recitals. In
2310-830: The US. On her return to England, Thorndike was spotted by Bernard Shaw in a one-off Sunday night performance at the Scala Theatre in London; he invited her to join the company for a revival of his Candida to be given in Belfast by Annie Horniman 's players. The company was based at the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester , where she first appeared in September 1908 as Bessie Carter in Basil Dean 's Marriages are Made in Heaven . She played parts in nine other plays by authors ranging from Euripides to John Galsworthy . In
2376-535: The West End in June 1956 Thorndike played Amy, Lady Monchensey in The Family Reunion , with Casson, Paul Scofield and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies . In New York the couple appeared in the world premiere of Graham Greene 's The Potting Shed , which ran on Broadway for 143 performances in 1957, after which they revisited Australia and New Zealand, touring in The Chalk Garden . During the 1950s Thorndike appeared in eleven films: Stage Fright (as Mrs Gill, 1950), Gone to Earth (Mrs Marston, 1951), The Lady with
2442-486: The West End, The Times predicted, "Much as the Old Vic will regret it, it is hardly conceivable that Miss Thorndike will be allowed to cross over to the south side of the river again". In the event, she continued to appear in Old Vic productions as well as in the West End for nearly thirty years. In early 1920 Thorndike successfully repeated her Hecuba and played the title roles in Shaw's Candida and in another Euripides play, Medea . The critic J. T. Grein wrote of
2508-405: The actors frequently stayed with mining families, whom Thorndike found "wonderfully hospitable". By 1941, with the London blitz coming to an end, it was practical for the London theatre to revive, and the Old Vic company presented Shakespeare's rarely seen King John , in which Thorndike played Constance. As its own theatre had been severely bombed, the company played at the New Theatre. Later in
2574-440: The author's elder brother's recent renunciation of his peerage so as to be eligible for the premiership. Once again, Thorndike's notices were better than those for the play. Bernard Levin wrote, "she gets her fangs deep into the meatiest part she has had for years" and praised "the relish and zest she brings to her playing". She thought the critics were wrong to dismiss the play – "they only want avant-garde and classics now" – and
2640-406: The author, who himself played the Welsh mining lad who was her star pupil, a heartening success on the eve of war and of new developments in theatrical life". Thorndike made three films during the decade, appearing as Madam Duval in A Gentleman of Paris (1931), Mrs Hawthorn in Hindle Wakes (1931) and Ellen in Tudor Rose (1936). She made her television début in 1939 as the Widow Cagle in
2706-622: The company she met, and formed a lifelong partnership with, the actor Lewis Casson . They married in December 1908 at her father's church. They had two daughters and two sons, all of whom went on the stage for some or all of their careers. Thorndike appeared at the Coronet Theatre , London, in June 1909 with the Horniman company, and at the Duke of York's Theatre in March 1910 with Charles Frohman 's repertory company, appearing there as Winifred in The Sentimentalists , Emma Huxtable in The Madras House , Romp in Prunella and Maggie Massey in Chains . She then went to New York, where she appeared at
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2772-611: The critics nor the public liked the play, which closed after six weeks. In 1962 Olivier, as director of the Chichester Festival , mounted a production of Uncle Vanya . He assembled a cast headed by Michael Redgrave in the title role, supported by Olivier (as Astrov), Fay Compton , Joan Greenwood and Joan Plowright , in addition to Thorndike as Marina, the nurse, and Casson as Waffles. The critic J. C. Trewin wrote of "the most remarkably complete production – in my experience at least – of any play in our period". He called Thorndike's nurse "a miracle of gruff tenderness". The production
2838-435: The critics were enthusiastic, and the play ran from February to November 1966. Thorndike appeared no more on the London stage after that. At the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre , Guildford, in January 1967 she played Claire Ragond in The Viaduct , and at the same theatre in February 1968 she appeared as Mrs Basil in Call Me Jacky . Later in that year she toured as Mrs Bramson in Emlyn Williams's thriller Night Must Fall . During
2904-437: The critics, but there were reservations: in The Times , A. B. Walkley said that she performed beautifully, but he found her "rusticity of speech a superfluity". The critic of The Daily Telegraph felt that no other actress could have better "hit off the Maid's simplicity without losing her strength". Desmond MacCarthy in the New Statesman , praised Thorndike for emphasising the "insistive, energetic, almost pert traits of
2970-475: The early 1930s included the title part in Racine's Phèdre , Mrs Alving in Ibsen's Ghosts , and Emilia in a celebrated production of Othello at the Savoy Theatre with Paul Robeson and Peggy Ashcroft as Othello and Desdemona. In 1931 she was appointed DBE , the fourth actress to be made a Dame. She appeared in a wide range of plays, both classical and modern, often under Casson's direction. From April 1932 to April 1933 Thorndike and Casson made
3036-422: The failure of Fallen Fairies , the idea was abandoned. Some of the satire of the piece is aimed at musicians. An exchange in the piece, where the character of Zoram, the court composer and a poseur , makes the following complicated musical remark, was tried out by Gilbert on his future collaborator, Arthur Sullivan , some months before the play was produced (Gilbert had looked up the definition of "harmony" in
3102-532: The fairy works of James Planché , are founded upon the idea of self-revelation by characters under the influence of some magic or supernatural interference. The Palace of Truth was the first of these, followed by Pygmalion and Galatea (1871), a satire of sentimental, romantic attitudes toward myth, The Wicked World (1873), and Broken Hearts (1875). At the same time, Gilbert wrote some dramas, including Sweethearts (1874) and Charity (1874), all of which helped to established his artistic credentials as
3168-479: The following 17 years not only in London (1925, 1926, 1931 and 1941) but at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées , Paris (1927) and on tours of South Africa (1928) and the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand (1932−33). In 1927−28 Thorndike was again a member of the Old Vic company, for a season at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith . She played Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew , Portia in The Merchant of Venice , Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and Chorus and
3234-417: The following year, having in the interim played Gertrude in Hamlet for the Old Vic company at Sadler's Wells in an uncut, five-hour production directed by Greet (who appeared as Polonius). Thorndike and Casson were among the actors who felt an obligation to appear in the provinces as well as in the West End − according to the critic Hannen Swaffer "Sybil is the only actress whom the provinces treat like
3300-423: The founding director of the National Theatre in late 1963. He included Uncle Vanya in his first season, with many of his Chichester cast reprising their roles, but Casson, by this time in his late eighties, declined, and Thorndike did likewise. At the Duchess Theatre in January 1964 she appeared as the Dowager Countess of Lister in William Douglas-Home 's play The Reluctant Peer , a comic fictionalisation of
3366-453: The latter, "It is a great example of tragic acting, and a magnificent achievement". Later in the year Thorndike joined her brother and her husband in a two-year run of Grand Guignol melodramas at the Little Theatre . The vogue for theatrical horror began to wane and Casson and Thorndike joined Bronson Albery and Lady Wyndham in the management of the New Theatre in 1922. They opened with Shelley 's verse tragedy The Cenci . Shaw saw
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#17327866782903432-417: The palace is enchanted, and every visitor there is bound to speak the truth. The speaker is not aware that he is telling the truth, and it is impossible to keep a secret there. The two decide to bring the Prince and Princess there to find out if they truly love one another. They will also bring all the courtiers. The King tells Gelanor and Mirza that he has a talisman that will keep the holder from having to tell
3498-476: The piece was not a great box-office success and closed after 188 performances. In 1961 Thorndike played the longest part of her career, the title role in Hugh Ross Williamson 's Teresa of Avila , about the eponymous saint . She thought it "the most thrilling part I've been offered since Saint Joan", but Williamson's script, even after extensive revision by Casson, proved disappointing. Reviews were enthusiastic in their praise of Thorndike's performance, but neither
3564-411: The progressive nature of the theatre, and her freedom as an actress as well as her support for women's suffrage. Thorndike and Casson had long lived at Swan Court, Chelsea , where she died on 9 June 1976, aged 93. Her ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey the following month, after a memorial service there. Thorndike described herself as "an old-fashioned socialist, an Anglican and a pacifist –
3630-458: The theatre named in her honour, the Thorndike Theatre , Leatherhead . Thorndike was born on 24 October 1882 in Gainsborough , Lincolnshire, the eldest of the four children of the Rev Arthur John Webster Thorndike (1853–1917) and his wife Agnes Macdonald, née Bowers (1857–1933), the daughter of a shipping merchant. From both parents Thorndike absorbed values of tolerance and concern for others that remained with her throughout her life. When she
3696-423: The three genera of Lemurs were named after characters in The Palace of Truth in 1870 by British zoologist John Edward Gray . Gilbert created several blank verse "fairy comedies" at the Haymarket Theatre for actor-manager John Baldwin Buckstone and starring William Hunter Kendal and his wife Madge Robertson Kendal (sister of the playwright Tom Robertson ) in the early 1870s. These plays, influenced by
3762-528: The time, and then toured. Gilbert was paid 4 guineas per night until February 1871 and 2 guineas thereafter. On tour, Gilbert's royalty was 3 guineas a night. Some of Gilbert's later works drew on The Palace of Truth for plot elements or their logical development, including his hit play, Engaged (1877), where characters say openly what would ordinarily be hidden and admit what, in Victorian society, would be inadmissible. Gilbert and Edward German discussed making The Palace of Truth into an opera, but after
3828-434: The truth. Act II – Inside the Palace of Truth The King is holding the talisman. Everyone else tells the truth: The Princess's singing is terrible; Chrysal did not mean one word that he said at court; Zoram (the composer) doesn't know one note from another, etc. Chrysal and Zoram declare a duel because of the truth they speak. The Prince confesses that at least 500 ladies have kissed him, among other things, and of course
3894-472: The year the Cassons again toured Wales, adding Candida and Medea to their repertory. When Ralph Richardson , Olivier and John Burrell were appointed to re-establish the Old Vic as a leading London company in 1944 they recruited Thorndike, who played Aase in Peer Gynt , Catherine Petkoff in Arms and the Man , Queen Margaret in Richard III , Marina in Uncle Vanya , Mistress Quickly in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 , Jocasta in Oedipus Rex and
3960-413: The year, playing a range of roles in nine plays. At the Court Theatre in London in May 1913 she played the title role in St John Ervine 's Jane Clegg , and in October she appeared in both Manchester and London as Hester in Eden Phillpotts ' The Shadow . Between November 1914 and May 1918 Thorndike played in four seasons at the Old Vic (and one at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1916) with
4026-445: Was a studio production of Waters of the Moon with Evans, Casson and Kathleen Harrison . Thorndike's first stage role of the 1960s was Lotta Bainbridge in Coward's Waiting in the Wings ; she and Marie Löhr played the lead roles of two residents in a retirement home for actors and actresses, perpetuating, and finally resolving, an ancient feud. She said of it, "I loved that play. It's the most lovely modern play I've played", but
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#17327866782904092-581: Was acknowledged as the highlight of the festival, and was revived the following year. Between the two stagings Thorndike appeared for the first time in a musical – playing the formidable Miss Crawley in an adaptation of Thackeray's Vanity Fair . The piece received bad reviews. The Guardian said that at her age Thorndike "should have known better than be caught up in this piece of prolonged nonsense", although The Times found consolation in her "blazingly theatrical figure" who "stamps every line with comic authority". Olivier moved from Chichester to become
4158-427: Was at the National Theatre's final night at the Old Vic in February 1976, where from a wheelchair she acknowledged the applause of her fellow members of the audience. Brian Harrison recorded an oral history interview with Thorndike, in December 1975, as part of the Suffrage Interviews project, titled Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews. In it she talks about
4224-543: Was sorry when her contractual commitments forced her to leave the cast six months into the eighteen-month run. After appearing in two successive box-office failures – Arthur Marshall's Season of Goodwill (1964) and William Corlett 's Return Ticket (1965) – Thorndike rejoined Casson in what turned out to be their last West End production together, a revival of the classic black comedy Arsenic and Old Lace . With Athene Seyler co-starring as her equally well-meaning and homicidally lunatic sister, Thorndike enjoyed herself,
4290-473: Was the last trace of the Irving -Terry era in which the important thing was to speak beautifully and clearly and be heard throughout the auditorium". Paul Scofield thought her "a glorious actress who suggested immense power. She aimed at the big targets, and used every ounce of her being to do justice to great classical themes". The Palace of Truth The Palace of Truth is a three-act blank verse "Fairy Comedy" by W. S. Gilbert first produced at
4356-453: Was two years old her father was appointed a minor canon of Rochester Cathedral . She was educated at Rochester Grammar School for Girls , and first trained as a classical pianist, making weekly visits to London for lessons at the Guildhall School of Music . In May 1899 Thorndike gave her first solo piano recital, but shortly afterwards she developed recurrent pianist's cramp, and although she performed in leading concert venues in London –
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