She would have been 100 in November 2013. She left this world when she was 53 years old, but she had an exceptional influence on the stage and big screen of the 20th century. She was considered the most beautiful woman of her generation. This is a biographic play; Vivien Leigh’s life – a big story of love and a fascinating, troubled, and tragic story about impossible love, ended by a terrible disease.
Beyond this, it is about the role of art and the role and importance of theater. This is also a field in which Vivien Leigh has no equal. Hollywood has been trying for more than 80 years to find another Scarlett. There have been more Blanches, but nobody has ever risen to her level, in the role she played in Elia Kazan’s movie. Her third role, the one for which she would be remembered, was the one of Lady Olivier (she was married with Laurence Olivier for 21 years). The age of the royal theatric couple of England, the Oliviers, is also without equal.
With an extremely simplistic design, Marcy Lafferty’s story chronologically follows the important points of Vivien’s life, after opening with her last press conference, when the actress realizes she is alone. Conference is actually a pretext for the remembrance and re-experiencing, before her death, of a fascinating life. And this is exactly what Lamia Beligan does. She accompanies the actress on her way back, portraying her life, without going into the intimacy of her world than the text permits her. Like a time travel that sees itself at different ages, without truly relating with itself, even though that was the text’s intention.
Monica Andronescu – Yorick – Lamia Beligan face to face with Vivien Leigh
By accepting the challenge of rising to the height of the legend, Lamia sublimely shows her acting complexity. Between the tenderness of her heart and the refinement of her mind, Lamia milimetrically identifies herself with the capricious femininity and the fierce stubbornness, with the passion for life and the nervous breakdowns of the famous protagonist, stirring admiration and compassion. This “magical” strategy is certainly the exam of artistic maturity and of a versatility that reaffirms the enormous talent of Lamia Beligan.
Edith Negulici – Revista Teatrală Radio – „Viaţa mea a fost un spectacol bun!”
http://revistateatrala.radioromaniacultural.ro/viata-mea-a-fost-un-spectacol-bun/
Alone on the stage, facing imaginary journalists, Lamia Beligan will show the multiple faces of the actress that stunned the whole world. Gliding between exaltation and melancholy, she waltzes, contorts, and clings to a perpetual movement. Even when her body is static, Lamia Beligan’s emotion-overwhelmed face is an emblem of the fluctuation of her thoughts. Fragile, yet strong, the Vivien Leigh on the stage is gone with her memories and relives the joy of her first stage representation (...).
Mădălina Dumitrache – Web Cultura – Pe aripile vântului, către paradisul amintirilor
http://webcultura.ro/pe-aripile-vantului-catre-paradisul-amintirilor/
... The Last Press Conference comes to life through Lamia Beligan, who confesses that the play was recommended to her by her father. The recommendation was an inspired one, since, on the stage, Lamia is fragile, beautiful, seductive and crazy with conviction and sensibility...
Sorana Savu – Cinci femei și-o piesă
https://soranasavu.com/2016/05/27/cinci-femei-si-o-piesa/
In real life, Lamia Beligan is nothing like Vivien Leigh. Nothing! Lamia is Lamia, Vivien was and will remain Vivien. Two actresses, two powerful and unmistakable personalities. But, unbelievably, after no more than five minutes after the beginning of the play, you are under the impression that Lamia Beligan is Vivien Leigh. In every single detail, including the physical ones. Rarely have I seen actresses with such a skill for transfiguration, such an encapsulation, up to the last fibre of their being, of the character...
Gabriela Hurezean – Muze & Arme – Premieră la Teatrul Excelsior: Vivien Leigh, gloria și nefericirea
http://www.muzesiarme.ro/2016/05/28/premiera-la-teatrul-excelsior-vivien-leigh-gloria-si-nefericirea/
(...) What is remarkable about the play – which is only natural – is Lamia Beligan’s acting. Undoubtedly, the allure of the theatric and private personality of the famous British actress is overwhelming, and any artistic attempt to replicate it requires both responsibility and adequate qualities. But being close to the giant of cinema does not scare Lamia Beligan, but instead challenges her to discover her innermost, by constantly acquiring new interpretations. Lamia Beligan shows not only an outstanding acting skill, including a body and even pantomimic technique, rare among our first-grade actresses, but also a rare honesty and a human depth, doubled by an equal versatility and an immense passion…
Elena Dulgheru – ziarul Lumina – Vivien și Lamia – o confruntare în care ambele câștigă
http://ziarullumina.ro/vivien-si-lamia-o-confruntare-in-care-ambele-castiga-113734.html
Vivien Leigh – The Last Press Conference, which we can watch on February 19 at the Excelsior Theater and on March 4 at the Iași Aetheneum, is the first one-woman-show from the prolific career of Lamia Beligan. In a dynamic, alive, and exciting show, the actress rapidly crosses from one situation to another and from one state to another.
Bogdan Nicolai – Lamia Beligan la LIFE COUCH
