During his first season at the Old Vic, Gielgud played Romeo to the Juliet of Adele Dixon, Antonio in "The Merchant of Venice", Cleante in "The Imaginary Invalid", the title role in "Richard II", and Oberon in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". His Romeo was not well reviewed, but as Richard II Gielgud was recognised by critics as a Shakespearean actor of undoubted authority. The reviewer in "The Times" commented on his sensitiveness, strength and firmness, and called his performance "work of genuine distinction, not only in its grasp of character, but in its control of language". Later in the season he was cast as Mark Antony in "Julius Caesar", Orlando in "As You Like It", the Emperor in "Androcles and the Lion" and the title role in Pirandello's "The Man with the Flower in His Mouth".