SOURCE: A review of Twelfth Night in The Spectator, Vol. 194, No. 6617, April 22, 1955, p. 502.

There is a certain lack of heart about this elegant and well-paced production. The play (as Johnson very mildly put it) 'exhibits no just picture of life,' and we cannot expect to have our withers wrung by the pangs of the lovers or the humiliations which Malvolio brings upon himself. Yet we ought, at times, to be touched by them, however lightly or quizzically; and here we are not.

Miss Vivien Leigh's Viola is trim, pretty, poised and resourceful; but to the qualities which distinguish an air-hostess something must be added—warmth, uncertainty, a capacity for being embarrassed—if she is to lead this improbable dance through Illyria in the way it should be led, and Miss Leigh's performance, though talented and charming, has too strong a bias towards what politicians call non-involvement. Miss...