Melbourne Theatre Company Presents DI AND VI AND ROSE

Nadine Garner (The Doctor Blake Mysteries), Belinda McClory (The Waiting Room) and Mandy McElhinney (Love Child) form the sterling cast of Di and Viv and Rose, opening Thursday 17 August at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner.

Renowned theatre-maker Marion Potts directs the Australian premiere of this heart-warming new comedy by Amelia Bullmore exploring female friendship and lifelong alliance.

Director Marion Potts said, 'Over twenty years the world changes, things happen to us for better or worse. This play focuses on the relationships that somehow withstand the volatility of our lives; as much as a result of their flexibility as their solidity. It's about those friendships that can bend and not break.'

From different classes, from different places, with different experiences and expectations, Di, Viv and Rose would never have crossed paths if they hadn't shared a flat all those years ago at university. It was the laughs and the troubles that bound them together, and sure, as time passes their bond loosens, stretches and strains, but throughout all the triumph, disaster and change, it never breaks.

Di and Viv and Rose is British writer and actor Amelia Bullmore's second play. It was originally staged at Hampstead Theatre in London to great success, later transferring to the West End in early 2015 where it ran at the Vaudeville Theatre. Her first stage play, Mammals, was the winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was shortlisted for the What's On Best New Comedy Award. For TV, her writing includes episodes for This Life, Attachments, Black Cab, and Scott & Bailey. Amelia's expansive acting credits include State of Play, Happy Valley, Scott & Bailey, Ashes to Ashes and Sherlock.

Marion Potts is currently Director of Theatre for the Australia Council for the Arts and was previously Artistic Director for Malthouse Theatre from 2010 - 2015. Prior to this Marion worked with many of the country's finest theatre companies, last directing for MTC in 2009 with her production of Grace. Across her career Marion has received numerous nominations and awards, including the Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2006. For Malthouse Theatre, Marion has directed The Riders (with Victorian Opera and West Australian Opera), Latitud (with Dramafest, Mexico), Ugly Mugs (with Griffin Theatre Company), The Dragon, Hate, Wild Surmise, Blood Wedding, Meow Meow's Little Match Girl and its return season at the Southbank Centre in London, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Sappho... in 9 fragments, and Venus & Adonis (with Bell Shakespeare) and its return season for Auckland Festival. Other theatre directing credits include King Lear, Hamlet, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew (Bell Shakespeare); The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Playgrounds, Volpone, Don Juan, Life After George, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Crucible, Navigating, Del Del, Closer, The Herbal Bed, What is the Matter With Mary Jane?, Pygmalion, Where Are We Now?, The Café Latte Kid, The Blessing, Two Weeks With The Queen (STC); Equus, The Torrents, Gary's House, A Number, The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? (STCSA); Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset (QTC).

Cast Nadine Garner, Belinda McClory, Mandy McElhinney

Director
Marion Potts
Set & Costume Designer
Dale Ferguson
Lighting Designer
Paul Jackson
Composer & Sound Designer
Kelly Ryall
Voice & Dialect Coach
Geraldine Cook-Dafner
Assistant Director
Stephen Nicolazzo

Season
12 August - 16 September

Opening Night
Thursday 17 August, 8pm

Venue
Southbank Theatre, The Sumner

Tickets
03 8688 0800
mtc.com.au

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