Di and Viv and Rose

According to happiness.com, a true friend – “prioritises spending time together, accepts you for who you are, offers you unwavering support, encourages you to be your best self, is honest and trustworthy and can always bring you some cheer and positivity.”

All of these qualities are explored in length in Blue Skies Theatre’s production of Di and Viv and Rose by Amelia Bullmore, a hit play from the West End of London. Bullmore is not only a playwright, but also an actress (Coronation Street and Scott & Bailey among others).

The show revolves around the three British women who give the play its name. Di is a sports-mad lesbian; Viv is studious, determined, and uninterested in a romantic life; Rose is a free-loving art history student, obsessed with men.

The play begins as the women enter university in Northern England, and we see them size each other up, a phone in the corridor becoming the beginning of their friendships.

The three bond with one another, moving in together and creating a friendship that is central to the play. They soon encounter romantic struggles. Rose and Viv clash, they’re different people and Viv has a tendency to be more brutal than honest, while Di attempts to keep the peace, however, the audience understands that they love each other, in their different ways.

During their final year of university, aa man breaks into their home and rapes Di. Afterwards the three begin to sleep together in the living room, and attempt to hold their suffering friend together. Rose reveals she has fallen pregnant, there are six possible fathers, and she wants to keep the baby, while Viv has received her dream job offer in New York.

The conclusion is heart-breaking and will not be revealed here; needless to say it cements the friendships that have been become fractured over the years.

Director Angela Short has cast well with three extremely strong actors. Her direction is astute and uses the acting space well. Short has dug deep into the text to ensure the play’s central messages hit home. Her set is simple but functional (moved by the cast), the costumes are cleverly colour coordinated, and her choice of music (mostly 80s) had the audience singing along and swaying in their seats.

The cast are a dream. Nicole Rutty’s Di is a carefully nuanced study of a lesbian who does not know how find her true love. Her final scenes in a wheelchair are a triumph as are the scenes dealing with her rape.

Kate Anolak’s Viv is the glue that holds the friendship together. Initially aloof, she quickly adds a sense of order to Di and Rose’s lives. Her drunk scene and its consequences on the bonds of friendship is skilfully handled.

Allison Scharber’s Rose lights up the stage. Superficially, she seems to live a vicarious life, but underneath that veneer lies a vulnerable woman and a true friend. Her scenes supporting Di after her rape demonstrate the depth of her friendship with both Di and Viv. Her pregnancy scenes are a riot!

Rutty, Anolak and Scharber inhabit their characters. They are totally believable. I noticed a number of the audience in tears at the end of the play, a tribute to the talent of these accomplished women.

Despite the strong characters and acting, the play is patchy in Act 1. Possibly the script could have done with some judicious pruning.

Di and Viv and Rose deals with some ‘big themes’- abuse, death, and sexuality, among others, but don’t let that stop you seeing it. It is a compelling study of friendship and what really matters in life!

Barry Hill OAM