 He directed 14 plays at Stratford; Denison singles out "Antony and Cleopatra" with Michael Redgrave and Ashcroft, "Macbeth" with Olivier and Vivien Leigh, "As You Like It" with Ashcroft,"Othello" with Harry Andrews and Emlyn Williams, and "King Lear" with Charles Laughton and Albert Finney.Before the 1950s, Stratford seasons had been widely regarded as worthy but unexciting.Under Quayle and Byam Shaw Stratford became one of the principal centres of British theatre, attracting the leading directors such as Gielgud, Peter Hall and Peter Brook.