Editing Laurence Olivier (section)

===1955–1956: Last productions with Leigh===
In 1955 Olivier and Leigh were invited to play leading roles in three plays at the [[Shakespeare Memorial Theatre]], Stratford. They began with ''Twelfth Night'', directed by Gielgud, with Olivier as Malvolio and Leigh as Viola. Rehearsals were difficult, with Olivier determined to play his conception of the role despite the director's view that it was vulgar.{{sfn|Croall|2000|p=391}} Gielgud later commented:

{{Blockquote|Somehow the production did not work. Olivier was set on playing [[Malvolio]] in his own particular rather extravagant way. He was extremely moving at the end, but he played the earlier scenes like a Jewish hairdresser, with a lisp and an extraordinary accent, and he insisted on falling backwards off a bench in the garden scene, though I begged him not to do it.{{space}}... But then Malvolio is a very difficult part.{{sfn|Gielgud|1979|p=178}}}}

The next production was ''Macbeth''. Reviewers were lukewarm about the direction by [[Glen Byam Shaw]] and the designs by [[Roger Furse]], but Olivier's performance in the title role attracted superlatives.{{sfn|Holden|1988|pp=294–295}} To [[J. C. Trewin]], Olivier's was "the finest [[Macbeth (character)|Macbeth]] of our day"; to Darlington it was "the best Macbeth of our time".<ref name="trewin-macbeth"/>{{sfn|Darlington|1968|p=82}} Leigh's [[Lady Macbeth]] received mixed but generally polite notices,<ref name="trewin-macbeth"/><ref name="times-1955-macbeth"/><ref name="tynan-macbeth"/> although to the end of his life Olivier believed it to have been the best Lady Macbeth he ever saw.{{sfn|Holden|1988|p=298}}

[[File:Vivien Leigh in Laurence Olivier na brzovlaku v Mariboru 1957.jpg|alt=woman and man seated and looking towards camera|thumb|Leigh and Olivier in 1957]]
In their third production of the 1955 Stratford season, Olivier played the title role in ''[[Titus Andronicus]]'', with Leigh as Lavinia. Her notices in the part were damning,{{efn|Tynan wrote in ''The Observer'', "As Lavinia, Vivien Leigh receives the news that she is about to be ravished on her husband's corpse with little more than the mild annoyance of one who would have preferred foam rubber".<ref name="tynan-titus"/>}} but the production by [[Peter Brook]] and Olivier's performance as Titus received the greatest ovation in Stratford history from the first-night audience, and the critics hailed the production as a landmark in post-war British theatre.{{sfn|Holden|1988|pp=296–297}} Olivier and Brook revived the production for a continental tour in June 1957; its final performance, which closed the old [[Stoll Theatre]] in London, was the last time Leigh and Olivier acted together.{{sfn|Darlington|1968|p=82}}

Leigh became pregnant in 1956 and withdrew from the production of Coward's comedy ''[[South Sea Bubble (play)|South Sea Bubble]]''.{{sfn|Coward|1983|p=327}} The day after her final performance in the play she miscarried and entered a period of depression that lasted for months.{{sfnm|1a1=Coward|1y=1983|1pp=330, 358|2a1=Coleman|2y=2006|2pp=284–285}} In the same year Olivier directed and co-starred with [[Marilyn Monroe]] in a film version of ''The Sleeping Prince'', retitled ''[[The Prince and the Showgirl]]''. Although the filming was challenging because of Monroe's behaviour, the film was appreciated by the critics.{{sfn|Coleman|2006|p=287}}