Sir Lewis Casson was a British actor and theatrical director who played a crucial role in modernizing the British theatre, expanding its scope to include social critiques and new techniques, and advocating for a National Theatre.
Born on October 26, 1875, in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, Casson was the son of Thomas Casson, a bank manager, and Laura Ann. The family moved to Denbigh, Wales, when Casson was a young boy. His father's passion for building organs led to the family's relocation to London, where Thomas became a professional organ builder.
Casson worked for his father's organ-making business but eventually attended university to study chemistry, although he did not complete his degree. He then trained to become a teacher at St Mark's College, Chelsea, and later returned to his father's business.
The young Casson was drawn to socialism and became a supporter of Keir Hardie, the leader of the Labour Party. He also developed an interest in acting and participated in amateur theatricals while young. Casson became a tutor at St. Mark's and acted in semi-professional productions staged in non-theatrical venues in London's East End.
He turned professional in 1903 when he was recruited by the managers of the Royal Court Theatre. During his time at the Royal Court, he appeared in George Bernard Shaw's "Man and Superman" and "Major Barbara," befriending Shaw, who was a socialist and one of the founders of the Fabian Society.
In 1907, Casson joined the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester, which was founded as the first repertory theatre in Great Britain by Annie Horniman. It was at the Gaiety that he met Sybil Thorndike, another member of the company, and they married in December 1908. The couple had four children and remained husband and wife for over 60 years until Casson's death.
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, and the company later toured America.
After the American tour, Casson became focused on directing and 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, and directed Laurence Olivier in "Coriolanus" in 1938 and John Gielgud in "King Lear" in 1940. Casson 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.
During World War I, Casson was torn over supporting the war as he opposed it as a socialist, thinking it was an imperialist war. He eventually enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps and made the rank of sergeant. He was later commissioned in the Royal Engineers and worked on the development of poison gas warfare.
After the war, Casson returned to the theatre and became well-known as a director while 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.
Casson continued to act until a year before his death and died on May 16, 1969, at the age of 93 in a Nuffield Nursing Home.
