Editing Laurence Olivier (section)

===1948–1951: Post-war work===
[[File:Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh on holiday in Queensland (3190855694).jpg|alt=woman and man seated on aeroplane steps|thumb|Olivier with Leigh in Australia, 1948]]
By the end of the Australian tour, both Leigh and Olivier were exhausted and ill, and he told a journalist, "You may not know it, but you are talking to a couple of walking corpses." Later he would comment that he "lost Vivien" in Australia,{{sfn|Holden|1988|p=295}} a reference to Leigh's affair with the Australian actor [[Peter Finch]], whom the couple met during the tour. Shortly afterwards Finch moved to London, where Olivier auditioned him and put him under a long-term contract with [[Laurence Olivier Productions]]. Finch and Leigh's affair continued on and off for several years.<ref name="S. Times: Finch"/>{{sfn|Munn|2007|pp=149–150 and 152}}

Although it was common knowledge that the Old Vic triumvirate had been dismissed,<ref name="guardian-sack"/> they refused to be drawn on the matter in public, and Olivier even arranged to play a final London season with the company in 1949, as Richard&nbsp;III, Sir Peter Teazle, and Chorus in his own production of [[Anouilh]]'s ''[[Antigone (Anouilh)|Antigone]]'' with Leigh in the title role.{{sfn|Billington|2004}} After that, he was free to embark on a new career as an actor-manager. In partnership with [[Binkie Beaumont]] he staged the English premiere of [[Tennessee Williams]]'s ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire]]'', with Leigh in the central role of [[Blanche DuBois]]. The play was condemned by most critics, but the production was a considerable commercial success, and led to Leigh's casting as Blanche in the [[A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)|1951 film version]].{{sfn|Holden|1988|pp=256–257}} Gielgud, who was a devoted friend of Leigh's, doubted whether Olivier was wise to let her play the demanding role of the mentally unstable heroine: "[Blanche] was so very like her, in a way. It must have been a most dreadful strain to do it night after night. She would be shaking and white and quite distraught at the end of it."{{sfn|Bragg|1989|p=88}}

{{Quote box |bgcolor=#CEF6EC|salign=right| quote = I think I'm a fairly good manager now.&nbsp;... I ran the St. James's theatre for eight years. I didn't run that at all well.&nbsp;... I made mistake after mistake, but I dare say those mistakes taught me something.|source=Olivier talking to [[Kenneth Tynan]] in 1966<ref name="tynan-interview"/>|align=left| width=33%}}
The production company set up by Olivier took a lease on the [[St James's Theatre]]. In January 1950 he produced, directed and starred in [[Christopher Fry]]'s verse play ''[[Venus Observed]]''. The production was popular, despite poor reviews, but the expensive production did little to help the finances of Laurence Olivier Productions. After a series of box-office failures,{{efn|Holden, noting that one of the failures was written and directed by Guthrie, comments that Olivier's willingness to stage it was an example of his magnanimous side.{{sfn|Holden|1988|p=262}}}} the company balanced its books in 1951 with productions of [[George Bernard Shaw|Shaw]]'s ''[[Caesar and Cleopatra (play)|Caesar and Cleopatra]]'' and Shakespeare's ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]'' which the Oliviers played in London and then took to Broadway. Olivier was thought by some critics to be under par in both his roles, and some suspected him of playing deliberately below his usual strength so that Leigh might appear his equal.{{sfn|Holden|1988|p=266}} Olivier dismissed the suggestion, regarding it as an insult to his integrity as an actor. In the view of the critic and biographer [[W.&nbsp;A. Darlington]], he was simply miscast both as Caesar and Antony, finding the former boring and the latter weak. Darlington comments, "Olivier, in his middle forties when he should have been displaying his powers at their very peak, seemed to have lost interest in his own acting".{{sfn|Darlington|1968|p=77}} Over the next four years Olivier spent much of his time working as a producer, presenting plays rather than directing or acting in them.{{sfn|Darlington|1968|p=77}} His presentations at the St James's included seasons by [[Ruggero Ruggeri]]'s company giving two [[Luigi Pirandello|Pirandello]] plays in Italian, followed by a visit from the Comédie-Française playing works by [[Molière]], [[Jean Racine|Racine]], [[Marivaux]] and [[Musset]] in French.<ref name="comedie"/> Darlington considers a 1951 production of ''Othello'' starring [[Orson Welles]] as the pick of Olivier's productions at the theatre.{{sfn|Darlington|1968|p=77}}