The Portrait Of A Lady

Vivien Leigh & The Stage

Cover Stories - (Plays and Players - UK - October, 1955)

More Than Beauty

As Lady Macbeth in the famous sleep-walking scene, Vivien Leigh is more moving than in any other part she has ever played.

This year Vivien Leigh, with her husband Laurence Olivier, has led the Company at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. Her parts have included Viola in Twelfth Night, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth and Lavinia in Titus Andronicus. It is her first appearance at this theatre and one of the few occasions she has played Shakespeare, her performances revealing unsuspected aspects of her power.
The colour cover of Macbeth with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh has been specially taken by Angus McBean.

Sitting in Vivien Leigh�s dressing room and watching her take off her make-up, it was easy to see why she is always called the most beautiful actress on our stage.  

When the quite frightnening make-up for Lady Macbeth had been peeled off, there emerged small, petite, delicate features, and a woman who showed courtesy and good breeding in dealing with a dozen people waiting to see her. Even though tired, she showed humility, gentleness and consideration.

As she sat before the mirror without any make-up, the pale oval face with the fine bone structure looked even more beautiful, with her eyes alternating between dancing gaiety and a deep sullen sadness. Here was certainly an internationally beautiful face: Vivien Leigh would be considered a very beautiful woman in France, China or Egypt, as well as in London.

A Handicap

And yet this beauty, for which many actresses would sell their souls, has been a grave handicap to her career. It has been the cause of a great deal of niggling criticism from some colleagues, and from irresponsible members of the press who have put forward the theory that no one as beautiful as Vivien Leigh could possibly act.

The present season at Stratford, where her Lady Macbeth is one of the finest seen for many years, should dispel this fallacy, as did the 1951 season at the St. James's Theatre when she played Cleopatra in both the Shaw and the Shakespeare plays.

There has been gossip going the theatrical rounds about the relations between the Oliviers and the rest of the cast and staff at Stratford - all pure fabrication. The Oliviers have been a most popular leading couple. In their house on the banks of the Avon, not far from Stratford, there have been many parties, while their consideration and charm has captivated all who have worked with them.

A Poignant Viola

The current season has marked an important development in Vivien Leigh's work. In the past, some of her most successful parts have been in comedies - as Sabrina in Wilder's The Skin Of Our Teeth, Jennifer Dubedat in Shaw's The Doctor Dilemma, and Lady Teazle in Sheridan's The School For Scandal. Yet, she has failed to give Viola in Twelfth Night any humour, and turns her into a sad, wry girl. This has been a disappointment, for it was the part which offered her particular gifts most scope.

Some personal sadness seems to have prevented her from finding the joy in this wonderfully gay part. It, her portrayal, seemed removed and far away - almost as if it were beneath her dignity to be caught up in such vulgar going-ons. But it is this new-found quality which will fit her for a greater variety of parts in the future.

It is injust to criticise any actress for her work in a single production, especially when her Lady Macbeth shows more strenght than one had ever believed possible from such a frail body - and she is not primarily a Shakespearea actress.

Her gifts lie in civilised, cultivated comedy which requires aristocratic poise and style. This type of part she can play to perfection. Let us hope she will not throw her gifts away on small roles, but beguile us with her beauty and her charm in modern comedy; and now that she has found an added depth in her work, perhaps become the perfect Chekov actress. She has never acted in any Chekov plays and is particularly anxious to do so. It might well be the crown of an already brilliant career.

A Big Adventure

Let nobody say then that Vivien Leigh is a beauty who cannot act, when she is prepared to risk her reputation in parts for which she is physically unsuited, playing them better than most people would have expected.

Vivien Leigh is an actress and an adventurous spirit in the theatre, who is prepared to extend her range at a time when most leading ladies are content to go on playing the same type of part over and over again.

2003 � Vivien Leigh & The Stage.

-design by subtract-