In the 1950s Compton rejoined the Old Vic company, appearing at the 1953 Edinburgh Festival, as Gertrude in "Hamlet"', and in London in the 1953–1954 season, as Gertrude; the Countess of Rossillion in "All's Well That Ends Well"; Constance of Bretagne in "King John"; Volumnia in "Coriolanus"; and Juno in "The Tempest". With the same company she played Queen Margaret in "Richard III" in 1957, to the Richard of Robert Helpmann, and Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest" in 1959.