Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew Review

February 14, 2025

Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew Review

13th February – 22nd March 2025

A Bush Theatre production

Written by Coral Wylie
Directed by Debbie Hannan
Design by Max Johns
Cast Omari Douglas, Wil Johnson, Pooky Quesnel, and Coral Wylie

The Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew has come to Shepherds Bush. Along with the Chelsea Flower Show.

Or so it seems as the Bush Theatre’s stage blossomed and bloomed with dozens of shiny leafed shrubs, trees in bud, colourful flowers, bushes and frilly ferns overflowing from pots, a baby’s Moses basket and even a pair of old boots

“Wylie successfully sowed the seeds of growth towards tighter family ties in this rich and rewarding play”

Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew was playing in its world premiere and starring BAFTA and Olivier Award nominee Omari Douglas from It’s a Sin and Constellations to a full house at Bush’s Theatre.

And it rightly received a standing ovation both for the cast, which includes the writer Coral Wylie, creatives and a verdant plant spectacular from botanical director Dan Yeo at the play’s end.

The green shoots of Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew are very much the creation of Coral Wylie on whom the plot is closely based.

To avoid any confusion Wylie describes the characters thus: Lorin (she/her) Pip’s mum (50s white cis woman);

Craig (he/him) Pip’s dad (50s Black Caribbean, raised in London, cis man);

Pip (they/them) their child (early 20s Black/ mixed race, non-binary);

Duncan (he/him),the missing piece (barely 30s, Black Caribbean, raised in Brum, cis man).

Coral pretty well IS Pip, renamed from her given name Pippa. Coral is also 20s, mixed race non-binary and has mirrored the experience of finding a luridly bright ski jacket belonging to gay family friend Duncan who died of AIDS20 years before, shortly after her birth.

The attic discovery also unearths Duncan’s diaries, hidden from everyone except Craig. Until Pip secretly reads them to understand so much more who mum and dad are why they are so lost in the grief of Duncan’s death, never talking about it to each other or to Pip.

The discoveries in the attic spark questions about Pip’s parents’ connection to each other, how the family’s interest in gardening came about and the undeniable effects of grief, mostly unspoken. The deepest Craig ever digs is when tending his allotment.

Duncan is indeed the missing piece in this funny, affecting and poetically written jigsaw of buried emotions, generational tensions, hidden sexuality. Who knew ‘so many plants are gay’?

Best friend Duncan (Omari Douglas) comes back to throw light on dynamics between dad Craig (Wil Johnson), and mum Lorin (Pooky Quesnel) who admits to Pip: ‘I love your dad, I love this house. But I lost scraps of myself along the way.’

Duncan is the buffer in their troubled relationship. In the short time he spends with the baby he comes to adore her. ‘Your Mummy’s midwife was a lesbian. That means we own you!’ he tells the four day old infant.

And he promises: ‘As soon as you get your ID we’re going to the Vox.’

As the AIDS crisis deepens he realises: ‘What I’ll leave behind is all fucking flowers and foliage.’

The undoubted talents of Coral Wylie, born and bred in Shepherds Bush, were nurtured when she joined the Bush theatre in 2021 as part of its Young Company initiative, bringing together local storytellers aged 18 to 25. Now 29 she has a strong affinity with the natural world, much like Pip, who has picked up gardening as a hobby from dad Craig. He interacts better with plants than people.

Grief and gardening are twined, giving full rein to Wylie’s role as a wildlife educator, passionate about conservation and environmental sustainability, encouraging local wildlife with a ‘bug theatre’ on the Bush’s roof.

The play’s running time is two and a half hours with a welcome 23 minutes interval in the buzzy bar or quieter library of this welcoming neighbourhood theatre. The script called out for a little light pruning.

But Wylie successfully sowed the seeds of growth towards tighter family ties in this rich and rewarding play with a stage overflowing with Duncan’s ‘all fucking flowers and foliage.’