Vivien Leigh: The Last Press Conference

Show Info

written and performed by Marcy Lafferty
directed by John Edw. Blankenchip

The play begins as Leigh herself sweeps onto the stage for her last press conference — still the glamorous movie star. But it's an illusion. Long past Scarlett's prime, no longer the Georgia peach, she is the thorny English rose who orchestrated her career and romance with Sir Laurence Olivier like Grant took Richmond, no matter the cost.

She drifts between past and present, the past always present, in an attempt to define herself this one last time, exposing Viv, the world's darling, desperate for truth and stripped to the bone. Driven by the duel demons, manic depression and tuberculosis, Leigh believed herself to be defined by three roles — Scarlett O'Hara from 'Gone With the Wind,' Blanche Dubois from 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' and Lady O, the wife of Olivier — and was tortured by them. Lafferty wrote, directed and starred in the short subject film, "Vivien, The Movie, The Marriage, The Madness." This film was the impetus for the current stage production, a more comprehensive study of the life of Vivien Leigh.