The stand-out element of Shiroma Perera-Nathan’s account of the tour of Australia and New Zealand by acting couple Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh’s in 1948 is the photographs.
Shiroma Perera-Nathan’s handsome coffee-table book about the 1948 Down Under tour by Britain’s Old Vic theatre company borrows its title from the nicknames that the travelling players bestowed on their famous principals. Sir Laurence Olivier was “God” and his wife, Vivien Leigh, was “the Angel”.
Her account of the company’s visit to Australia and New Zealand revolves around Olivier and Leigh: why they agreed to be involved, where they went , how they fared personally and professionally, the large crowds that gathered everywhere to catch a glimpse of them, the trio of plays they performed , who accompanied the Oliviers around the country. Some of the photos were also taken by Sir Laurence with his trusty old camera.
There are hints of other directions it might usefully have taken, but they arise mainly in passing. Mention is made of how the Old Vic tour was driven by the British government’s “soft strategy” to reassert its post-World War II imperial objectives. In which context, culture was seen as a means of seducing gullible colonials, “a form of propaganda” designed to remind them of where their loyalties should lie.
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