Lewis Casson(1875-1969)
- Actor
- Director
Sir Lewis Casson was a British actor and theatrical director who was
married to the legendary actress Dame
Sybil Thorndike. He played a role in
modernizing the British theatre, expanding it to embrace social
critiques as well as new techniques, and was an advocate for a National
Theatre.
Lewis was born on October 26, 1875 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England to
Thomas Casson, a bank manager who had been born in Wales, and Laura
Ann. The family moved to Denbigh, Wales when Lewis was still a boy. His
father's passion was building organs, and in 1891, the family moved to
London where Thomas became a professional builder of theatrical organs.
Lewis worked for his father but eventually attended university to study
chemistry but left school without completing his degree. He then
trained to become a teacher at St Mark's College, Chelsea. After
getting his teaching certificate, he returned to his father's
organ-making business in 1900.
The young Casson was attracted to socialism and became a supporter of
Keir Hardie, the leader of the new Labour Party. Lewis had always been
interested in acting and had participated in amateur theatricals while
young. He became a tutor at St. Mark's and acted in semi-professional
productions staged in non-theatrical venues London's East End.
He turned professional in 1903 when he was recruited by the managers of
the Royal Court Theatre. Whilst at the Royal Court he appeared in
George Bernard Shaw's "Man and
Superman" and "Major Barbara", eventually befriending Shaw, who was a
socialist and one of the founders of the Fabian Society that had helped
create the Labour Party.
In 1907, he joined the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester, which was founded
as the first repertory theatre in Great Britain by Annie Horniman. It
was a watershed event in his life as it was at the Gaiety that he first
directed a play. It was also at the Gaiety that he met Sybil Thorndike,
another member of the company. She had first seen him in a production
of Shaw's "Widowers' Houses", a polemic against slum lords. Initially,
she disapproved of his socialism and political activism, but he -- a
believer in equal rights for women -- introduced her to women
suffragists working and she joined the cause of securing the vote for
women. Marrying in December 1908, they would remain husband and wife
for over 60 years until his death and had four children.
The couple soon moved to London to be part of Charles Frohman's
repertory company. Frohman arranged an American tour for Thorndike,
where she appeared on Broadway with the leading actor John Drew, the
uncle of Lionel Barrymore,
' Ethel Barrymore and
John Barrymore in
W. Somerset Maugham's play "Smith".
Casson was in the cast. The company later toured America. After the
American tour, Casson became focused on directing after returning to
Britain. In 1912, he directed a production of
Stanley Houghton's "Hindle Wakes" about
a mill girl who goes off for a weekend with the mill-owner's son and
then refuses to marry him so that she can remain independent. Sybil
played the fiancée of the mill-owner's son.
The play was scandalous for the time and showed that Casson was
determined to expand the parameters of what was acceptable theatre. He
directed an experimental production of "Julius Caesar" at the Gaiety,
and although it received critical praise, Annie Horniman thought it was
"an experiment for experiment's sake", which led Casson to resign as
director. He soon became the artistic director of the Scottish
Playgoers Company, Glasgow (his son John would become an actor and
director at the company's successor organization, the Citizens
Theatre).
With the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Casson was torn over
supporting the war as he opposed it as a socialist, thinking it was an
imperialist war. Many socialists and Hardie of the Labour Party
initially opposed the war. However, family members and friends had
joined the military and Casson, as did many Labourites and socialists,
believed that the government would enact reforms after the war if
socialists showed their loyalty. He lied about his age in order to
enlist in the Royal Army Service Corps and made the rank of sergeant.
In 1916, due to his half-completed chemistry degree, he received a
commission in the Royal Engineers and was tasked with working on the
development of poison gas warfare. He was eventually promoted to
Captain and given his own company that set up gas projectiles during
The Somme and other battles. In 1917, he received a shrapnel wound in
the shoulder while his company was preparing gas projectiles for which
he was awarded a Military Cross. He was invalided back to England but
returned to the Western Front in 1918 to resume his role on gas
warfare. He was credited with creating a more efficient gas missile
mechanism. By autumn, he was sent on a mission to Washington to discuss
gas warfare as a secretary of the Chemical Warfare Committee. His
brother was killed during the war.
Demobilized in 1919 with the rank of major, he returned to the theatre
and became well-known as a director whilst his wife established herself
as one of the greatest actresses of her generation. He worked closely
with George Bernard Shaw when
directing the premiere of
Saint Joan (1957), which starred his
wife Sybil as Joan of Arc. The play was a huge success. He then courted
controversy again by directing the Marxist Ernest Toller's "Man and the
Masses". When Great Britain was hit by the General Strike of 1926 over
the exploitation of miners, he fully supported the strike and strikers
despite the fact that Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald refused to support
it. After the General Strike collapsed, the Conservative government
implemented anti-strike legislation. In 1934, during the trough of the
Great Depression, Casson toured in socialist playwright Miles
Malleson's "Six Men of Dorset", about workers who were transported to
Australia for trying to create a trade union. The tour focused on
industrial cities and areas suffering from high unemployment.
In the late 1930s, he was affiliated with the Old Vic company, and
directed Laurence Olivier in
"Coriolanus" in 1938 and 'John Gielgud' in "King Lear" in 1940. He
called for the Old Vic to serve as the nucleus of a National Theatre, a
dream that would come to fruition under Olivier in 1963. From 1941 to
'45, he served as president of the British Actors' Equity Association,
a union created by the amalgamation of Actors Association and the Stage
Guild. Casson had been one of the movers behind the merger.
Sybil Thorndike was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British
Empire in 1931, and in June 1945, Casson himself was knighted for his
contributions to the theatre. He continued to act until a year before
his death. He died on May 16, 1969, at the age of 93 in a Nuffield
Nursing Home.
married to the legendary actress Dame
Sybil Thorndike. He played a role in
modernizing the British theatre, expanding it to embrace social
critiques as well as new techniques, and was an advocate for a National
Theatre.
Lewis was born on October 26, 1875 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England to
Thomas Casson, a bank manager who had been born in Wales, and Laura
Ann. The family moved to Denbigh, Wales when Lewis was still a boy. His
father's passion was building organs, and in 1891, the family moved to
London where Thomas became a professional builder of theatrical organs.
Lewis worked for his father but eventually attended university to study
chemistry but left school without completing his degree. He then
trained to become a teacher at St Mark's College, Chelsea. After
getting his teaching certificate, he returned to his father's
organ-making business in 1900.
The young Casson was attracted to socialism and became a supporter of
Keir Hardie, the leader of the new Labour Party. Lewis had always been
interested in acting and had participated in amateur theatricals while
young. He became a tutor at St. Mark's and acted in semi-professional
productions staged in non-theatrical venues London's East End.
He turned professional in 1903 when he was recruited by the managers of
the Royal Court Theatre. Whilst at the Royal Court he appeared in
George Bernard Shaw's "Man and
Superman" and "Major Barbara", eventually befriending Shaw, who was a
socialist and one of the founders of the Fabian Society that had helped
create the Labour Party.
In 1907, he joined the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester, which was founded
as the first repertory theatre in Great Britain by Annie Horniman. It
was a watershed event in his life as it was at the Gaiety that he first
directed a play. It was also at the Gaiety that he met Sybil Thorndike,
another member of the company. She had first seen him in a production
of Shaw's "Widowers' Houses", a polemic against slum lords. Initially,
she disapproved of his socialism and political activism, but he -- a
believer in equal rights for women -- introduced her to women
suffragists working and she joined the cause of securing the vote for
women. Marrying in December 1908, they would remain husband and wife
for over 60 years until his death and had four children.
The couple soon moved to London to be part of Charles Frohman's
repertory company. Frohman arranged an American tour for Thorndike,
where she appeared on Broadway with the leading actor John Drew, the
uncle of Lionel Barrymore,
' Ethel Barrymore and
John Barrymore in
W. Somerset Maugham's play "Smith".
Casson was in the cast. The company later toured America. After the
American tour, Casson became focused on directing after returning to
Britain. In 1912, he directed a production of
Stanley Houghton's "Hindle Wakes" about
a mill girl who goes off for a weekend with the mill-owner's son and
then refuses to marry him so that she can remain independent. Sybil
played the fiancée of the mill-owner's son.
The play was scandalous for the time and showed that Casson was
determined to expand the parameters of what was acceptable theatre. He
directed an experimental production of "Julius Caesar" at the Gaiety,
and although it received critical praise, Annie Horniman thought it was
"an experiment for experiment's sake", which led Casson to resign as
director. He soon became the artistic director of the Scottish
Playgoers Company, Glasgow (his son John would become an actor and
director at the company's successor organization, the Citizens
Theatre).
With the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Casson was torn over
supporting the war as he opposed it as a socialist, thinking it was an
imperialist war. Many socialists and Hardie of the Labour Party
initially opposed the war. However, family members and friends had
joined the military and Casson, as did many Labourites and socialists,
believed that the government would enact reforms after the war if
socialists showed their loyalty. He lied about his age in order to
enlist in the Royal Army Service Corps and made the rank of sergeant.
In 1916, due to his half-completed chemistry degree, he received a
commission in the Royal Engineers and was tasked with working on the
development of poison gas warfare. He was eventually promoted to
Captain and given his own company that set up gas projectiles during
The Somme and other battles. In 1917, he received a shrapnel wound in
the shoulder while his company was preparing gas projectiles for which
he was awarded a Military Cross. He was invalided back to England but
returned to the Western Front in 1918 to resume his role on gas
warfare. He was credited with creating a more efficient gas missile
mechanism. By autumn, he was sent on a mission to Washington to discuss
gas warfare as a secretary of the Chemical Warfare Committee. His
brother was killed during the war.
Demobilized in 1919 with the rank of major, he returned to the theatre
and became well-known as a director whilst his wife established herself
as one of the greatest actresses of her generation. He worked closely
with George Bernard Shaw when
directing the premiere of
Saint Joan (1957), which starred his
wife Sybil as Joan of Arc. The play was a huge success. He then courted
controversy again by directing the Marxist Ernest Toller's "Man and the
Masses". When Great Britain was hit by the General Strike of 1926 over
the exploitation of miners, he fully supported the strike and strikers
despite the fact that Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald refused to support
it. After the General Strike collapsed, the Conservative government
implemented anti-strike legislation. In 1934, during the trough of the
Great Depression, Casson toured in socialist playwright Miles
Malleson's "Six Men of Dorset", about workers who were transported to
Australia for trying to create a trade union. The tour focused on
industrial cities and areas suffering from high unemployment.
In the late 1930s, he was affiliated with the Old Vic company, and
directed Laurence Olivier in
"Coriolanus" in 1938 and 'John Gielgud' in "King Lear" in 1940. He
called for the Old Vic to serve as the nucleus of a National Theatre, a
dream that would come to fruition under Olivier in 1963. From 1941 to
'45, he served as president of the British Actors' Equity Association,
a union created by the amalgamation of Actors Association and the Stage
Guild. Casson had been one of the movers behind the merger.
Sybil Thorndike was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British
Empire in 1931, and in June 1945, Casson himself was knighted for his
contributions to the theatre. He continued to act until a year before
his death. He died on May 16, 1969, at the age of 93 in a Nuffield
Nursing Home.