 By 1948 Olivier was on the board of directors for the Old Vic Theatre , and he and Leigh embarked on a six @-@ month tour of Australia and New Zealand to raise funds for the theatre . Olivier played the lead in Richard III and also performed with Leigh in The School for Scandal and The Skin of Our Teeth . The tour was an outstanding success and , although Leigh was plagued with insomnia and allowed her understudy to replace her for a week while she was ill , she generally withstood the demands placed upon her , with Olivier noting her ability to " charm the press " . Members of the company later recalled several quarrels between the couple as Olivier was increasingly resentful of the demands placed on him during the tour . The most dramatic altercation occurred in Christchurch , New Zealand , when her shoes were not found and Leigh refused to go onstage without shoes . An exhausted and exasperated Olivier screamed an obscenity at her and slapped her face , and a devastated Leigh slapped him in return , dismayed that he would hit her publicly . Subsequently , she made her way to the stage in borrowed pumps , and in seconds , had " dried her tears and smiled brightly onstage " . By the end of the tour , both were exhausted and ill . Olivier told a journalist , " You may not know it , but you are talking to a couple of walking corpses . " Later , he would observe that he " lost Vivien " in Australia . 
