Tom & Viv (play)

Tom & Viv
Written by	Michael Hastings
Date premiered	1984
Place premiered	Royal Court Theatre
Original language	English
Subject	Period/Biographical
Setting	England
[Tom and Viv Official site]

Tom & Viv is a play written by English playwright Michael Hastings. The play is based on the real life of T. S. Eliot and his wife Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot.

To write the play, Hastings spent many months conducting interviews with friends and family of the Eliot's that were still alive and read through the letters left behind from the family. The play received some controversy over painting T.S. Eliot in a less than flattering light over his treatment of his wife while she was in poor health. Hastings died in 2011.

The play begins with the beginning of the courtship between T.S. Eliot and Vivienne Haigh-Wood in 1914 and ends with their separation in 1933 and Vivienne's gradual mental health decline until her death in 1947. The play also follows the early career of T.S. Eliot, the death of Vivienne's father, and how her mother Rose dealt with her daughter's failing marriage and mental health.

The play premiered in 1984 at the Royal Court Theatre. The same cast, except for Wilkinson who was replaced by Edward Herrmann, traveled to New York and the play was staged at the Public Theatre. The play did not transfer to Broadway, and instead returned to London for a short run.

In 2006, the first major revival was staged at the Almeida Theatre starring Frances O'Connor, Will Keen, and Anna Carteret.

In 2010, a production was staged at Wadham College in Oxford.

The play was adapted as a film by Hastings and Adrian Hodges with of the same name in 1993 and released in 1994 by the Weinstein Company. The film received acclaim and Miranda Richardson was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and Rosemary Harris was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

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