We loved waking up to the brilliant thread from @E2EShakespeare about Laurence Olivier.

Coincidentally, we also had a little something planned for his birthday...

#OnlyTheInterval #REPMoments

In 1926, two 18-year olds joined The REP, straight from drama school: Peggy Ashcroft and Laurence Olivier. With their contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, they were to dominate the British stage in the mid-twentieth century.

#OnlyTheInterval #REPMoments

Olivier was born on 22 May 1907, in Dorking, Surrey. Encouraged by his father to be an actor, he attended the @CSSDLondon. On graduating, it was Sybil Thorndike who advised him to go to The REP.

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Olivier stayed at The REP from 1926 to 1928, performing in 20 productions in Birmingham and their London transfers. His roles included Jack Barthwick on Galsworthy’s The Silver Box, and Ben Hawley in Aren’t Women Wonderful.

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He was also in two of Barry Jackson’s modern-dress Shakespeare productions - Malcolm in Macbeth, and Parolles in All’s Well That End’s Well.

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In John Drinkwater’s Bird in Hand, he played alongside Peggy Ashcroft. By the middle of his first season he had become the Birmingham Repertory Company’s juvenile lead. He was described as "the friendliest, least pompous of young actors".

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In 1936, Oliver joined the @oldvictheatre Company and, in 1947, at the age of 40, became the youngest actor to be knighted. In 1962, he was appointed as @NationalTheatre's first Artistic Director.

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Much of Olivier’s work in establishing @NationalTheatre was influenced by Barry Jackson’s managerial style. He called Jackson "a golden torch in a foggy world".

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Olivier was created a life peer as Baron Olivier of Brighton in 1970. The @OlivierAwards organised by @SOLTnews have been named in his honour since 1984.

#OnlyTheInterval #REPMoments