VIVIEN: 78% – SWEET

Judith Chapman in "Vivien" at Theatre/Theater presented by Rogue Machine Theatre. Credit: John Flynn.

SWEET
Actor Judith Chapman and director Elina de Santos offer much to savor in this smart and elegant showcase, including guilty-pleasure theatrics, great humor and poignancy, and an opportunity to learn tantalizing tidbits about an indelible showbiz legend.
Les Spindle – Backstage

SWEET
But you can’t deny a grande dame her grandiosity. More than one audience member looked glassy-eyed at the curtain call. And I suspect I wasn’t the only one who went home reconciled to my comparatively dull life.
Margaret Gray – LA Times

SWEET
Fans of Vivien Leigh will not want to miss Rick Foster’s Vivien starring beautiful Judith Chapman at the Rogue Machine through September 4. It’s passionate, theatrical and thoroughly engaging as Chapman and Leigh connect on more than one plateau.
Don Grigware – BroadwayWorld

SWEET
Those who appreciate the singular life of this actress (her birth in India was the perfect exotic setup for a life of beauty, success, fame, romance, nymphomania and mental instability) will find much to appreciate here, not only in the writing but in the performance of Judith Chapman.
Wenzel Jones – Frontiers

BITTERSWEET
Viewed by today’s standards, Leigh had a tendency to overact. In opting for an overly melodramatic though arguably apt rendition, Chapman outdoes Leigh’s rampant theatricality, which is topped by an expressive and dramatic mad scene to rival Lucia di Lammermoor.
Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly

SWEET
Which is where Judith Chapman lives as well. In this fascinating role she ranges from quietly coquettish—often so quietly that she can’t be comprehended—to raging mania, in which she leaves the audience gasping for breath. Director Elina de Santos has guided her expertly through this extravagant role and provided us with a fascinating interlude with one of America’s artistic treasures.
Cynthia Citron – LA Examiner

SWEET
The one woman play Vivien, presented by Rogue Machine at Theatre Theater, is a stunning showcase of two talents, both of which make this a recommended outing: the superlative acting of Judith Chapman and the extraordinary directorial guidance of Elina de Santos.
Jennifer Berry Jacobson – Stage and Cinema

SWEET
Brazen, bold and bordering on a mental breakdown aided by her jealous second husband, Laurence Olivier, Chapman captures the fierceness and insecurity Rick Foster keenly weaves in a breathless 90 minutes that spans a troubled lifetime, a glamorous career and a heart wrenching demise of a woman who can do anything but strike, “a delicate balance.”
M.R. Hunter – EyeSpyLA

BITTER
Playwright Rick Foster tried to illuminate this fascinating life in his overwritten, dreary play “Vivien,” that hadn’t been staged in 10 years, a warning that should have been heeded. With such a complex character to create, it would have taken a heightened stage presence and keen acting skills to hold the stage for 90 minutes. However, under the directionless direction of Elina de Santos, Judith Chapman’s portrayal as “Vivien” was a self-indulgent, interminable, most forgettable exercise.
Beverly Cohn – Santa Monica Mirror

BITTERSWEET
“A” for effort, but with a “C” for clarity and an “E” for its “emotion recollected in tranquility” (Wordsworth), which doesn’t, however, always get its due.
Madeleine Shaner – Park La Brea News/Beverly Press (opens in pdf)

VIVIEN
Presented by Rogue Machine Theatre
Theatre/Theater
5041 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles
8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends Sept. 4, 2011
Tickets $40 and up. Contact: (855) 585-5185
Running time: 90 minutes