Vivien Leigh started her theatre career in London's west end in a variety of minor plays at the age of 21. One of her earliest roles was a one-line part "Oh! What a lovely dress!" in Murder in Mayfair written by Ivor Novello, which premiered on September 3^rd, 1934. This was followed by The Green Sash, as Guista - a soldier's wife in Florence who is widowed during a plague. It opened February 1935, at the Q Theatre. The first talk about The Green Sash, and her first critical review, appeared in The Times:

While filming was still in progress on Vivien's 4^th film, Look Up and Laugh, she succeeded in winning the role of Henriette Duquesnoy, a reformed prostitute masquerading as 'a paragon of innocence' in The Mask of Virtue. Set in the time of Louis XV, it was based on 'Jacques le Fataliste', a story by Diderot, and opened on May 15^th, 1935, with Vivien entering in an impressive black dress. The play was a huge success, making Vivien a star overnight.

A review appeared in that edition of The Sunday Times:

On May 29^th, The Mask of Virtue was placed in the larger St. James's Theatre due to popularity, and concluded its successful run at the end of August. A new part was offered to Vivien in Richard II, directed by John Gielgud at Oxford, which opened on February 17^th 1936. Soon after, Vivien toured Manchester in The Happy Hypocrite, playing once again to packed houses and successful reviews. It's London premiere took place at His Majesty's Theatre on April 8^th. She followed this with the role of Anne Boleyn in Henry VIII at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, a performance which only emphasized her lack of vocal range. The summer and fall of '36 was spent in the film studio, however Vivien returned to the stage in Because We Must at Wyndham's Theatre at the beginning of 1937. She spent much of her spare time at rehearsals reading, and at this particular play she read and re-read a new favourite book - Gone With the Wind.

Because We Must opened on February 5^th 1937, and just over a month later, she appeared in a small role in the farce, Bats in the Belfry, on March 11^th. At this time, having made little money even with critical success on stage, Vivien asked her agent to submit her name to David O. Selznick who had just launched a search for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in the best-selling Margaret Mitchell novel, GWTW. At this time however, Vivien was just another actress in a long line of hopefuls.

What followed Because We Must, was the role of Ophelia in Hamlet, playing opposite her new love Laurence Olivier at the Kronborg Castle in Elsinore. This was a great success by those who witnessed the few performances. Michael Redgrave was a young cast member, and Alec Guinness was Olivier's understudy at the time. At this point, mid 1937, both Vivien and Olivier's marriages were failing due to their own affair, and this resulted in separation from their spouses and moving in together in Chelsea. Olivier continued to concentrate on Shakespeare, joining the Old Vic Theatre Company, while Vivien performed briefly in A Midsummer Night's Dream as Titania, on December 27^th 1937, appearing on stage in London in lavish costumes to the music of Mendelssohn. It ran successfully for several months.

Interviewed in Film Weekly in 1938 on her interest in Hollywood and acting, Vivien said:

In 1938, Vivien and Olivier had plans to undertake the four key Shakespearean tragedies as co-stars - Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear. This unfortunately never materialized because Olivier was asked to do Wuthering Heights in Hollywood. She decided to perform in Serena Blandish, a play based on Enid Bagnold's popular novel, at the Gate Theatre. This would be her last stage appearance in the 1930's, and her final one before leaving for Hollywood to follow Olivier and the quest to play Scarlett...