Compton had a reputation for versatility, and in 1931 she appeared successively in the title role of the pantomime "Dick Whittington" and Ophelia to Henry Ainley's Hamlet. Throughout the 1930 Compton moved between West End plays, mostly ephemeral, pantomime and Shakespeare – Titania, Lady Rosaline, Calpurnia, and Paulina in "The Winter's Tale", one of her favourite parts – and toured in Australia and New Zealand in " Victoria Regina", "Tonight at 8.30" and "George and Margaret". In 1930 she played Ophelia to the Hamlet of John Gielgud, first at the Lyceum and then at Elsinore Castle.