Presented by Blue Sky Theatre
Reviewed 4 August 2024
Friends! At times probably more valuable than family, because as the saying goes “You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family”.
Amelia Bullmore’s wonderful play about friendship, Di And Viv And Rose is heart-warming and heart-tugging in all the right places. Like true friendships themselves, the play is warm, tender, sad, joyous and funny.
Di, Viv and Rose meet in the early 80s whilst at university and decide, although each other’s opposite, to share a house. From there an extremely close friendship builds between the trio over three decades. They learn to share love, hope, joy, laughter and sadness and the audience are with them every step of the way.
I must admit to never having seen a Blue Sky Theatre production, but after witnessing Di And Viv And Rose I will be waiting for more productions from this company with baited breath. This production is sublime in its slickness of presentation and the talent that abounds onstage and off.
Director Angela Short with the assistance of Dave Simms delivers the goods at least ten-fold in this incredibly smooth production. Their casting is faultless.
Nicole Rutty, Kate Anolak and Allison Scharber are Di, Viv and Rose respectively. And I do mean “are” and not “play”, so realistic are their performances. Rutty always gives a high level of performance in anything that she is in, but her portrayal here of a sports-loving lesbian is on another plane altogether. Anolak portrays Viv as serious and conservative (well, she is a Sociology student after all – Say no more!) but with dreams and ambitions and gives an extremely human performance, especially in the climax of Act Two. It’s so good to see Scharber back on stage, her performance as free-spirited and somewhat promiscuous Rose is hilarious but well dotted with sentiment. Playwright Bullmore has fleshed the characters out well, but these three actors flesh them out to the nth degree. Their respect and friendship for each other as actors comes through as much as their characters. The energy and vitality of Rutty, Anolak and Scharber are off the charts!
Other nice touches that make this production such a pleasure to watch are: the fantastic 80s, 90s and Naughties soundtracks performed by female artists only; the cute way the audience is introduced to who each character is; and the fact that in keeping with the theme of friendship, each actor “gifts” props to the others that need to use them.
I cannot rave about Di And Viv And Rose enough, but don’t take my word for it – go see it!! But make sure you take your friends.
Reviewed by Brian Godfrey
Photo credit: supplied
Venue: Domain Theatre, Marion Cultural Centre
Season: Until 11 August 2024
Duration: Approx 2 hrs 30 mins (including a 20 min interval)
Tickets: $40
Bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1218435
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