Lame Duck's Triumph

For an artist who had gotten his notice two months ago from London's Old Vic repertory theater (TIME, Dec. 27), Sir Laurence Olivier had to admit last week: "I guess we are doing pretty well."

London critics and theatergoers were much more extravagant. Olivier, running out his last regular season with Old Vic, was turning it into a bang-up triumph. With his cinemactress wife, Vivien Leigh, he is starring in a repertory of three plays--two of them Olivier-produced-- which are sold out through March. In any one week, ticket holders can see Sir Laurence and his lady in Richard III (produced by John Burrell, who has also been sacked), The School for Scandal, and a modern-dress Antigone, in which Olivier plays a one-man Greek chorus in a dinner jacket.

The company's governors, who had sacked Olivier with his two fellow directors of the Old Vic, had nothing to say in public about his successes, though a spokesman purred: "We . . . shall always welcome him." Meanwhile, Olivier bubbled with plans of his own. Next month he expects to launch his own firm, Laurence Olivier Productions, with a new James M. Bridie play starring Dame Edith Evans. Tied down to his present busy Old Vic schedule until July, Olivier will neither act in the new show nor direct it, but next season he intends to keep busy as angel, manager, director and star.

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