Chronicle January 2021

16 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Laurence Olivier OSE

The stunning new Olivier Hall is named after Laurence Olivier OSE, the celebrated actor and director who was in Mac's from 1921–1924. Wilfrid Cowell, long-serving teacher and dedicated Shakespeare enthusiast, spotted Olivier’s potential from the outset, casting him in The Merchant of Venice in his very first term. Two years later, he cast him as Puck in a new interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream , staged in the Dining Hall – actors were allowed to leave the stage and mingle with the audience in a central aisle. It was here that ‘Puck danced down the passageway in the dark, a regular

Olivier went to drama school in London after St Edward’s, launching his professional career with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1926. Within a few years, he had enjoyed West End success in Noel Coward’s Private Lives at the Phoenix Theatre and secured a Broadway debut. After a first brief encounter with Hollywood, he returned in 1939 to play the tormented Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights , and international stardom followed. He went on to revitalise the Old Vic theatre, and to add stage and film directing to his portfolio, becoming the producer-director of the National Theatre in 1963. Olivier dominated the

Jack-o’-lantern, with two green lights shining from his breast’, a fact included in the official review in the Chronicle , which enthused: ‘By far the most notable performance was that of Puck. He seemed to put more “go” into it than the others and succeeded in individualising his part. He gave a consistent rendering, and showed by his gestures and movements that he has a knowledge of acting and a good mastery of technique.’