The play opened in Manchester in September and was a grueling ritual. Vivien would have to act out Blanche's descent into madness and a rape on stage that would repeat night after night. Running for 326 successful performances, Streetcar was a commercial and critical success, enough so that plans were made for the film version. Each night, Vivien would leave the stage shaking and nervous, taking several hours to calm down. This had a dramatic effect on her already difficult mood swings. Originally, Tennessee Williams and the director Elia Kazan didn't want Vivien for the film role, but the film's producer Charles K. Feldman wouldn't have it any other way. After successfully winning her second Oscar for the screen performance of Blanche, Vivien returned to London to join Olivier's theatre company at the St. James Theatre in an ambitious production of both Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Vivien would have to age her Cleopatra twenty years as she would alternate between plays nightly. Both plays ran for 4 months, ending in September 1951.

In New York, Vivien was appointed to the Committee on Drama at The National Arts Foundation. Soon afterwards, she set up the two Cleopatras on Broadway, opening in December. This became a box office success, but due to expensive sets and shipping costs, it was not making money for the Old Vic Company. Vivien began to get extremely depressed at this point and her mood swings became severe. She took a long (and much needed) break from work during the summer of 1952. Her daughter Suzanne, in the meantime, was attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts - the academy that Vivien had attended 20 years earlier. After beginning work on the film Elephant Walk and having to quit due to manic depression, Vivien finally returned to the stage on November 5th, 1953 in the play The Sleeping Prince. It ran successfully until July 1954. Shortly after, Laurence Olivier began work on his film version of Richard III which, although not a financial success, ended up one of his greatest critical successes - with several academy awards.

1955 was another busy year for Vivien, and she performing in Twelfth Night, Macbeth, and Titus Andronicus on stage at Stratford. Of note was Vivien's portrayal of Lady Macbeth, with many critics and peers saying she was the best they had ever seen. The production of Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's bloodiest and least performed play, received some acclaim (if not for being so bold to perform it at Stratford for the first time in history).

During the following season, Vivien performed in Noel Coward's South Sea Bubble which opened at the Lyric on April 25th 1956. It was hoped that this light play would help her emotional turmoil and now worsening bouts with anxiety and depression. It ran for 4 months, and 276 performances with good reviews and sold out audiences. Vivien, to everyone's surprise became pregnant during this period, and was expecting a child at Christmas. She unfortunately suffered a miscarriage in August, again putting her into a severe state of depression. A European tour of Titus Andronicus took place during the 1957 season, co-starring Alan Webb, Anthony Quayle and Ian Holm. During this tour, her illness continued to return and become more uncontrollable.

The following year Vivien became heavily involved in trying to rescue the demolition of the St. James's Theatre while not working, and even appeared briefly in court to protest this attack on the arts and removing a landmark stage. The battle ended when the theatre closed on July 27^th much to the dismay of the acting community. With the final performance of Titus Andronicus on August 3^rd, the long term acting career of the Oliviers as a team ended on stage. She continued to work in theatre however, and the next year appeared in Duel of Angels by Jean Giraudoux co-starring Peter Wyngarde. This was considered by many as the last of Vivien's truly great stage successes.

Olivier at this time was in America reprising his role in The Entertainer on stage and on film. Vivien performed in Duel of Angels until November 29^th, when anxiety and exhaustion once again took hold. Later in 1959, she returned with renewed health to play in Noel Coward's Look After Lulu. It ended in December. Behind the scenes during this time, Vivien would sit and discuss her worries with her co-stars:

She would talk and talk, but cry all the time. And then would come the voice on the tannoy saying 'half an hour'. She opened the play and I came on very soon after. She was as if nothing had touched her at all. No emotion. She went straight into the play, with her beautiful head held so proudly on that long neck. Her stance was very rare. You would never know that half and hour before she'd been weeping. Immense control. - Meriel Forbes (Mrs. Ralph Richardson), Vivien's co-star in Look After Lulu.

In March 1960, Vivien went to America to star once again in Duel of Angels, this time with a different cast. She received shock treatments due to severe manic-depressive states and always traveled with her favorite Siamese cat, 'Poo Jones' for comfort. A new tour of Australia began in June of 1961, showcasing the plays, Twelfth Night, The Lady of the Camellias, and Duel of Angels. It was a commercial, but not critical success - part of the problem being a tour without Olivier. She celebrated her 48^th birthday in Sydney and the tour continued on to South America, returning to London on May 25^th, 1962.

For her next role, a musical comedy, Vivien took dancing and singing lessons. Tovarich ended up breaking box office records throughout its tour across America and Vivien successfully was able to play both the comedienne and sing. She received a Tony for her work on April 28^th, 1963 for best musical comedy performance by an actress. After leaving the play due to a return of her illness, she recovered at home in England and in April 1964 recited several passages at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in celebration of Shakespeare's 400^th birthday.

After shooting her final film, Ship of Fools, Vivien returned to the stage in 1965 in La Contessa, wearing a red wig in yet another period drama. The play opened on April 6^th and was closed down a month later, due to poor reviews and audiences. She decided to return to America at the beginning of 1966 to do Ivanov. This would end up being her final play, directed and co-starring John Gielgud.

Her state worsened, and she had to spend more time resting at home. Her last public appearance was a reading of Hazlitt in Florence which took place at Oxford, May 1967, to help flood victims in Italy. She began to rehearse A Delicate Balance by Edward Albee in her home, despite continuing illness, until the day she died - July 7th.

The lights of London's theatres were darkened for 1 hour during the following week's memorial service, paying tribute to her lifetime work on stage. Many of Vivien's peers said her passing left an unbelievable gap in the theatre world - an actress that could never be replaced.