04 Feb 2026
Deborah Heath is back at the Abbey Theatre Studio for Company of Ten’s version of Amelia Bulmore’s comedy…
‘Di and Viv and Rose’ is written by Amelia Bullmore who is probably more widely known as a comedy actor, including performances in ‘I’m Alan Partridge’ and ‘Twenty Twelve’. I admire her acting work and was intrigued by the strong premise of this play.
The action follows the story of three women who met as university students in the 1980s and the ebbs and flows of their relationship over the next 30 years or so. This is a set up that has a wide appeal – I am sure we all have friendships made in childhood or youth that have changed as our lives have developed. It is also a wonderful vehicle for exploring the changing political landscape of the period. In short, I was excited.
On entering the Abbey Theatre lobby I was slightly apprehensive to learn that due to last minute re-casting, the role of Di would be played script-in-hand. However, I needn’t have worried because Deborah Cole fully embraced her character from the outset. Her confidence, comic timing and outstanding physicalisation for sporty lesbian Di were a joy to behold and within a couple of minutes I didn’t even notice the script.
The success of this last-minute change must also be credited to director Angela Stone and Deborah’s co-stars Jenny Kilcast and Claudia Crowther who had clearly been an extremely supportive and professional team – quite honestly you wouldn’t have known that they hadn’t been rehearsing together for the usual three months. A huge well done for everything they achieved. Characterisation was well executed by all three actors. Claudia Crowther nailed the warmth of posh girl Rose and Jenny Kilcast the self-sufficiency of Viv whilst never seeming unkind. These three contrasting characters were an unlikely group but of course friendship and close bonds often arise from necessity.
Company of Ten chose to present this play in the intimate studio theatre which was the perfect home for it. There are some restrictions on scenery in this smaller space so no doubt the choice to keep the set extremely simple was due to the changing time periods of this play.
Even so, despite Di’s hilarious pink two-piece outfit and the suitably scummy student sofa, overall design for this production wasn’t embraced as much as I was expecting. Furthermore, It was surprising to see all the scenery being stacked at the side of the stage towards the end of Act II; it rather broke the illusion of what was a naturalistic play.
Phil Spurr’s lighting and Anne Frizell’s sound were well executed throughout. One nice touch was the soundtrack of songs from the 30-year period which proved to be a very enjoyable trip down memory lane for many of us in the audience.
In terms of the script itself, Amelia Bullmore has certainly written some very funny lines: “I’ve discovered that if you ask a boy to sleep with you he will.”
She has also created a great story and some engaging characters. However, there are certainly problems with the overall structure of the play. For instance, the first 10 minutes consists of a collection of very short snapshot scenes, some lasting for less than a minute, which gave a disjointed feel and as an audience member it was hard to relax into the situation being presented. The division of the play into two parts felt unbalanced and there was perhaps too much time spent on the student years – had this been concentrated into Act I it might have flowed better.
However, there are plenty of points of identification in this play, not to mention moments of joys and sadness.
In terms of the production itself, I would like to commend the stage crew who managed the very large amount of furniture-shifting efficiently. Never underestimate how much hard work and coordination this can involve! A massive shout out too to the three hard working actors for some superb characterisation and teamwork.
This Company of Ten show is a great example of how last-minute casting can be a huge success. So, if you have a long-standing friendship from childhood, been a student or struggled to find your path in life, then ‘Di and Viv and Rose’ has something for you.
