 In 1916 , after attending a series of preparatory schools , Olivier passed the singing examination for admission to the choir school of All Saints , Margaret Street , in central London . His elder brother was already a pupil , and Olivier gradually settled in , though he felt himself to be something of an <unk> . The church 's style of worship was ( and remains ) Anglo @-@ Catholic , with emphasis on ritual , vestments and incense . The theatricality of the services appealed to Olivier , and the vicar encouraged the students to develop a taste for secular as well as religious drama . In a school production of Julius Caesar in 1917 , the ten @-@ year @-@ old Olivier 's performance as Brutus impressed an audience that included Lady Tree , the young Sybil Thorndike , and Ellen Terry , who wrote in her diary , " The small boy who played Brutus is already a great actor . " He later won praise in other schoolboy productions , as Maria in Twelfth Night ( 1918 ) and Katherine in The <unk> of the <unk> ( 1922 ) . 
