Yesterday I visited Canada’s famous Shaw Festival online to get more details about this year’s scheduled performances. The world class theatre produces plays from April to October in historic Niagara-on-the-Lake, and I intend to see every show.

After reading about all the productions, I studied the cast, and happened across Benedict Campbell’s familiar face; this gentleman is playing Mack in this year’s production of Mack and Mabel.

Now I remember working with this bespectacled veteran on Goosebumps, the TV adaptation of RL Stine’s books. In a flash my brain was flooded with memories that carried me back to August 1996 when I was an eager NABET film technician well practiced in the art of making moonlight. Yes, I was a lamp operator and Ben, as he was called on set (and how his name reads in the credits) was hired to play Mr. Benson, the father of two children who encounter spooky sights and ghastly neighbours when the family moves into an old house.

I also remembered how Benedict had, at that time, told me that his grandmother was none other than the legendary Dame Sybil Thorndike. For those unfamiliar with that name, let me tell you, she is one of history’s greatest theatre actors, a celebrated veteran of British stage and screen.

Sybil Thorndike made her first stage appearance a 1904 production of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor and then toured the United States for four years, playing some 112 roles. In 1908 Sybil was spotted by the playwright George Bernard Shaw when she understudied the leading role of Candida in a tour that Shaw himself directed. There she also met her future husband, Lewis Casson. These two actors were married in December 1908, and had four children – one of whom went on to become a theatre legend in his own right, Canada’s own Douglas Campbell and Benedict Campbell is his son.

In 1924, Sybil thrilled audiences in the title role of Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan which the great playwright actually penned specifically for her. Critics hailed the play as 'a momentous achievement' with a simplicity that is 'the simplicity of supreme genius', and Thorndike's performance as 'stupendous'. The Daily Mail thought her depiction of Joan was 'one of the great performances of our time'. The production was a huge success and was revived repeatedly until her final performance in the role in 1941.

It’s interesting to note that like Shaw, both Sybil and Lewis were active members of the Labour Party, and held strong left-wing views. Even when the 1926 General Strike stopped the first run of Saint Joan, both actors still supported the strikers.

Sybil Thorndike was honoured as Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1931 which is the second highest ‘Order of the British Empire’ decoration bestowed on civilians. So I think it marvelous indeed that Benedict Campbell should follow in his grandmother’s footsteps and bring his abilities to the Shaw Festival, and it’s truly remarkable how The Shaw connects past and present in all things – including its actors!