Buddy plays, like buddy movies, incite sentiment. When
Di and Viv and Rose first aired in Hampstead Theatre's downstairs studio, it fizzed with life, with great humour and sudden pathos. We emerged wet-eyed, like a special breed of North West London spaniel. Rethought and refreshed, Amelia Bullimore's warming story of a thirty year friendship is now gracing the main stage. It starts in the first week of university, 1983. Lesbian, Di, is out and proud. Smart spart sociologist, Viv, constantly scrutinises the behaviours of her friends. Rose, the bohemian middle-class curry cook, is more interested in sex than the history of art.
It's a real treat to have a play about female bonding and Bullimore gives us loveable, easy to recognise characters upon whom we can imprint our own narratives. Gina McKee's Viv takes time to warm, but Anna Maxwell Martin's endearing Rose is a winner from the off. Tamzin Outhwaite, reprising the role of Di in ugly asexual tracksuits, is sweetly vulnerable under her Village People cap.
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| Di and Viv and Pose |
The part of Rose has been sensible-ised. She is no longer the beating heart of the story. The result is that the pieces fit better as lives change across the years and are shaped by the unexpected but, paradoxically, some scenes don't work as well. A key moment where Rose danced solo to Prince's
Let's Go Crazy is now a shared dance that feels gratuitous, and it's harder to feel sympathetic when she's not around. The sudden mood switches of the original are still there however, catching us unawares, and reminding us that lives turn on a sixpence.
In conclusion: Bullimore's triumph is in mirroring every day experiences without trying to be clever or funny, though the play is both. Anna Mackmin's direction is simple and focused, as is the set. It's a treat to share with those you love.
References
Hampstead Theatre,
tickets
Quentin Letts review in The Daily Mail
Hampstead Theatre is on Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London NW3 3EU. This production is now over.
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