SHARON LAWRENCE FINDS CRUMBLING VIVIEN LEIGH IN 'ORSON'S SHADOW'.

Byline: EVAN HENERSON

>THEATER WRITER

There is a word -- the name of a certain murderous Shakespearean Scotsman -- which stage actors superstitiously never utter inside a theater.

Legend has it that you risk raining down bad luck on a production when you speak it.

In the play "Orson's Shadow," Vivien Leigh not only speaks the verboten word, she repeats it five times to ensure that the theatrical collaboration between Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier meets with ruin.

Sharon Lawrence, 46, who plays Leigh in the Pasadena Playhouse's production of "Orson's Shadow," knows she's technically within the no-consequences parameters of saying "Macbeth," but she also recognizes that stage veterans should not be too flip about traditions.

"I'll have to maybe go to the Globe Theatre in London and do some penance," says Lawrence with a laugh during a rehearsal break. "I can only hope the theater gods look down on me and recognize that it's not carelessness or disregard or disrespect."

The North Carolina-born Lawrence makes a point of returning to the stage at least once a year, mixing theater work with regular appearances on TV and the occasional film.

In addition to recurring roles on "Monk" and "Desperate Housewives," Lawrence can be found in reruns for her thrice-Emmy-nominated stint on "NYPD Blue" in the mid-1990s.

In keeping her stage chops in fine tune, Lawrence is fulfilling an obligation made first to Broadway director Harold Prince (in whose revival of "Cabaret" she appeared in 1987) and to L.A. acting teacher Larry Moss.

"Larry said to me, in front of lots of people, 'You better not get lazy,' " Lawrence recalls. "And what he meant by that was, make sure you do this live because you cannot be lazy when you're doing live theater.

"If you turn your back on it and walk away from it, it can be a waste. I take that seriously."

Her choice of play this time is a theater lover's feast. Writer-actor Austin Pendleton's "Shadow" takes a look at a little-known 1960 union of theatrical titans Welles and Olivier. Welles directed Olivier in a production of Eugene Ionesco's absurdist play "Rhinoceros" in England. Olivier, whose marriage to Leigh was on the rocks, shared the stage with his mistress and future wife, Joan Plowright.

Leigh appears in two scenes. Suffering from tuberculosis and manic depression, the "Gone With the Wind" star is essentially playing a cameo role, albeit a very juicy one.

"You're playing someone that's a legend, and on top of that ... it's not like you're playing her over the course of a biographical one-person play," says director Damaso Rodriguez. "You've got to have someone you buy into from the first moment they walk on stage. It's remarkable what Sharon's doing with it. She's sort of mesmerizing in the part."

Lawrence knew little about Leigh's life before accepting the role but has immersed herself in research both of the actress and bipolar disorder. Fellow thespian Patty Duke's account of the disease, "A Brilliant Madness," has been helpful, as has the insight of Lawrence's husband, Dr. Tom Apostle, whose two specialties include psychology.

"I'm hoping people walk away with a better understanding of the disease. The people who suffered from it just didn't know what they were dealing with at the time," Lawrence says.

"What I think is so touching about her circumstances -- at least the way they're portraying it here -- is that she accepts it, and she was not in denial about it. She even had a sense of humor about it. It's also a really interesting challenge as an actor to find how to work on that."

Symptoms of Leigh's illness first surfaced when the actress was in her 20s. By the time she played Blanche DuBois in the film "A Streetcar Named Desire," the common belief is that Leigh melded with Blanche's character and never completely broke free.

Were Leigh's artistic genius and her illness inextricably linked?

"More than that, people have suggested that, when she threw her tantrums, they would attribute it to someone who has the artistic temperament and is high-spirited," Lawrence says. "Later on, they started to think, 'Oh, it was the illness.'

"Something I thought was heartbreaking about Vivien that you don't necessarily find in everyone who experiences this disease ... she would do penance and write apologies. I think she was embarrassed by it."

During the events of "Orson's Shadow," Leigh is 45, and watching the decline of her marriage and the ascendancy of 31-year-old Plowright -- both in the industry and in Olivier's bed. Today, Vivien Leigh might have ended up on Wisteria Lane.

"Back in the '50s and '60s, people looked to entertainment, especially to movies, to see larger-than-life figures, mythic-type personas and personalities," says Lawrence.

"Now you've got 'Desperate Housewives' or 'The Real Housewives of Orange County.' It's different than watching Lady Hamilton or Blanche DuBois."

Evan Henerson [phone]

[e-mail]

ORSON'S SHADOW

>Where: Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena.

>When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; through Feb.17.

>Tickets: $32 to $65. [phone], www.pasadenaplayhouse.org.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Sharon Lawrence plays Vivien Leigh in the Pasadena Playhouse production of "Orson's Shadow."