Editing Sybil Thorndike (section)

== 1914–1919 ==
[[File:Sybil-Thorndike-Hecuba-1920.png|As Hecuba in [[Euripides]]'s tragedy ''[[The Trojan Women]]'', 1919|thumb|upright|alt=white woman in classical costume carrying the body of a dead child]]
Between November 1914 and May 1918 Thorndike played in four seasons at the [[the Old Vic|Old Vic]] (and one at the [[Shakespeare Memorial Theatre]] in 1916) with a mostly Shakespearean repertory.<ref name=c526>Croall, pp. 526–527</ref> 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]]''.{{refn|Thorndike was not the only actress in the company to take on men's roles: in ''Henry IV, Part 1'', fourteen of the male parts were played by women.<ref>Croall, p. 117</ref>|group=n}} Her non-Shakespearean roles included Lady Teazle in ''[[The School for Scandal]]'', Peg Woffington in ''[[Masks and Faces (play)|Masks and Faces]]'', Kate Hardcastle in ''[[She Stoops to Conquer]]'', 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 Thorndike|Russell]], who was the leading man of the company.{{refn|The adaptation was co-written with Eric Ross.<ref>"Oliver Twist at The Old Vic", ''Justice'', 31 May 1917, p. 7</ref>|group=n}} Together, the siblings wrote and co-starred in two [[revue]]s 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''.<ref name=c526/>

After leaving 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.<ref name=ww1/><ref>"A great tragedienne: Sybil Thorndike as Hecuba", ''The Sketch'', 25 February 1920, p. 309</ref> Praising her as "a new leading lady" for 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".<ref>"A New Leading Lady", ''The Times'', 29 April 1919, p. 14</ref> In the event, she continued to appear in Old Vic productions as well as in the West End for nearly thirty years.<ref>Herbert, pp. 1476−1478</ref>