Di and Viv and Rose at Hampstead Theatre - Review
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Friendships Never Die for Di and Viv and Rose
If you believe that friendships are important to us, especially female friendships, then Di and Viv and Rose at the Hampstead Theatre will confirm your beliefs. The play is a well-earned transfer from Hampstead's Downstairs theatre.
The three protagonists meet as teenagers at university. Although initially awkward with each other they soon become firm friends and share a house throughout their student days. As their friendships grow and develop, we become more involved with them and learn to care about them and to share in their joys and tragedies. An amazingly energetic scene where they dance wildly and play shadow guitars to backing music had members of the audience applauding, and this scene is duly reprised in a shortened version at the end of the play.
The three actors convincingly portray the diversely different students and then mature them over the years into young, and later middle aged, women. We track their lives from 1983 through to 2010 in a series of scenes of differing lengths, as we grow older with them and share their laughter and their tears over the duration of the production's time span. Tamzin Outhwaite's Di, Gina McKee's Viv and Anna Maxwell Martin's Rose are as heterogeneous as three female friends can be, and the three women play their roles perfectly. We may drift apart from friends, but friendship is the glue that binds us and our friends are always there for us. We may need to iron out our differences from time to time, but our relationships grow and become stronger. Just ask your female friends. Better yet, go and see this female friendship affirming play before it finishes its run on 23 February.
The three protagonists meet as teenagers at university. Although initially awkward with each other they soon become firm friends and share a house throughout their student days. As their friendships grow and develop, we become more involved with them and learn to care about them and to share in their joys and tragedies. An amazingly energetic scene where they dance wildly and play shadow guitars to backing music had members of the audience applauding, and this scene is duly reprised in a shortened version at the end of the play.
Di and Viv and Rose Dancing (Image Courtesy of Hampstead Theatre's Website)
Di and Viv and Rose Dancing some more (Image Courtesy of Hampstead Theatre's Website)
Why? Two watch an exquisite play that affirms female friendship
When: Evenings at 7.30, Wednesday and Saturday matinees
Website: www.hampsteadtheatre.com
Where: Hampstead Theatre
Cost: Between £14.50 and £29.00, concessions available
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