T.S.Eliot’s wife, Vivien, suffered from a severe hormonal imbalance during their seventeen years together. Their pained private life was the source of some of Eliot’s finest work. Despite the complex nature of their relationship, he spoke of her as someone who gave him everything he wanted, and to whom he owed everything. Thoroughly researched, with new biographical information, the play attempts to move Eliot away from the doctrine of impersonal modernism. Here he is portayed as a deeply subjective poet.

Tom and Viv received its premiere at the Royal Court in 1984, and subsequently transferred to the West End. It has been made into a major motion picture starring Willem Dafoe and Miranda Richardson.

(Doollee)