Review: Omari Douglas is a triumph in heartbreaking and hilarious Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew

“Everything is born from something dying,” notes Duncan during a particularly tear-jerking moment of Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew, the stunning debut play from non-binary writer Coral Wylie.

It’s an ethos that runs through Wylie’s piece, far beyond its focus on gardening as a radical act. Flowers can grow from where others have died, but humans too, can grow and blossom in unexpected ways in the aftermath of loss.

Duncan, played with equal parts pathos and prickly humour by It’s A Sin and Black Doves star Omari Douglas, was a man barely in his 30s. It’s 2013, 20 years after his death from AIDS, and his two best friends, married couple Lorin and Craig (Pooky Quesnel and Wil Johnson) remain quietly stuck in their grief. 

Their 19-year-old child Pip, played by Wylie, has newly come out as non-binary. Their parents are accepting but flawed, and Pip is left yearning for someone, or something, to help them understand themselves better. “I want to be feminine the way a man gets to be feminine. I want to put on a corset and jeans and look like a f**king rockstar – not like a sixteen year old who just watched Gentleman Jack for the first time,” they write in their diary, one of ceaseless examples of Wylie’s ability to blend the confusing, sometimes devastating exploration of queerness with genius wit.

Early on in the play, Pip discovers a gaudy old ski jacket belonging to Duncan which Craig has buried in the attic, alongside his grief. Duncan’s diary is in the pocket, and instantly, Pip feels a connection to the queer man who their parents once orbited. Pip reads on and through flashbacks, history unfurls. In Duncan’s presence, Lorin and Craig were vibrant and charged, screaming, twirling and collapsing in post-night out heaps, alien to the people Pip sees today. Pip wants to use the diaries to get closer to their parents, and closer to the man who could’ve been a guiding light, but Duncan’s death remains a chasm the family isn’t yet able to cross.

The content isn’t unfamiliar territory for Douglas, who shone in Russell T Davies’ lauded AIDS drama It’s A Sin in 2021. Here he is a similar standout as a man conflicted as his confronts his mortality; unravelling as he contemplates his mark on the world.

His mark, it turns out, is rather what he put in the world. During his life, Duncan shared his adoration for plants with Craig, and Craig made gardening his pride and joy after Duncan’s death. As Pip begins to share the interest in nature, gardening becomes a symbol for connection and hope, pulling the three characters together despite the barriers – mortal and otherwise – that separate them. Some arresting stage design during the show’s closing moments only adds to the weep-inducing climax, and the standing ovation comes quickly.

There’s a lot packed into Wylie’s play, from the exploration of gay-straight male friendships, the shuttering effect of grief, the demolition of the queer community through AIDS, and the exploration of gender and sexuality in the past and present. If the script can very occasionally feel contrived, Wylie pulls it back by broaching every topic raised with bite. It’s a profound and beautiful debut that points to a blossoming career to come.

Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew is on stage at London’s Bush Theatre until 22 March.

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.

• Nov 29 2023

56 celebrities you didn’t know are gay, bisexual or lesbian