Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew: An affecting portrait of male friendship and grief

Telegraph

14-02-2025

'When these hyacinths pop up, they'll stand stronger and brighter than any flower out here,' an ailing Duncan observes as his best friend Craig plants bulbs in the flowerbed that he is no longer fit enough to tend to. It is 1993, and we learn that the hyacinths will bloom at the end of the year. By that time, though, Duncan – who is only in his early 30s – has died from an Aids-related illness. Coral Wylie's moving debut deals with the ripple effects that this loss has on one family.
Twenty years later, a 19-year-old Pip (played by Wylie) finds a bright orange jacket belonging to Duncan and, inside that jacket, discovers his diary. Pip wants to feel closer to the man who was their parents' best friend and, in turn, to Craig, who is a distant father. In an attempt to contain his grief, Craig has scrubbed the house almost entirely of reminders of Duncan's existence – flowers that should blossom in the garden have been replaced by concrete and fake grass, while the house itself is denoted by an almost bare white traverse stage, scattered with dried-up plants.
Omari Douglas found fame as the spirited Roscoe in Russell T Davies's It's a Sin (set in the 1980s at the beginning of the Aids crisis). He brings a similar vim to the role of Duncan. As we are transported back to the Nineties, Douglas sparkles with energy and humour. Along with tracks from Prince and the Pet Shop Boys playing to set the mood, the lighting changes from the harsh white of a family suffocating under the weight of unspoken heartbreak to warm, uplifting yellows. Wil Johnson's brusque Craig and Pooky Quesnel as his worn-down wife Lorin are joyful and more carefree in his presence. 'You've made complete strangers of my parents. What did you have that brought such vibrancy out of him?' Pip wonders while reading about their exploits.
This four-hander tries to cover a lot of ground – Craig struggles to get to grips with Pip's queer identity; Lorin confronts something buried in her past; Pip (occasionally overly preachy) uses gardening and Duncan's diaries as tools for self-discovery. There's a nuanced examination of how Lorin's grief has been sidelined and silenced because she does not hold the title of 'best friend'.
But what is most compelling is the portrait of male friendship. The dynamic of gay-straight male friendship is one that is not often explored but, in recent years, has been expertly tackled in Channel 4's Big Boys (which has just returned for its final series). In this play, when Duncan's health deteriorates (and he switches from stylish earrings and blouses to a grey cardigan and pyjama bottoms), there's a tenderness to his and Craig's relationship – the pair still joke around and dance together, but a struggling Craig now also shows his love by trying to find solutions to 'fix' his friend.
Wylie's writing is generally astute, with witty everyday observations that ring true, but at two-and-a-half hours, Hyacinth, Lavender, Violet, Yew could do with some pruning. This is a play built on metaphors – there is a flower metaphor for almost every situation; naturally, once the family allow Duncan's memory to live and breathe again, the white walls are removed to cleverly transform the space into a colourful botanical paradise. At times, though, the metaphors can feel laboured.
Still, across the room I spotted quite a few tears and tissues. I can't recall ever crying at the theatre but, I have to admit, I had a lump in my throat. There are some devastating lines on loss, superbly delivered, that should make this a work worth seeing.