NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL
Theater - By Cathy Seidner     Friday, November 13, 1992  

Long on Talent, Short on Zip

Tom and Viv

By: Michael Hastings
Director: Catherine Gaffigan
Cast: David A. Green, Karen Eterovich, David James O'Brien, Sheila Mart and others.
Where: Theatre 1010, 1010 Park Avenue Telephone- (212) 971-1187.

TOM AND VIV is long on talent and short on zip. It chronicles the relationship of noted 19th-century writer T.S. Eliot and his first wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood. The evolution and eventual disintegration of the marriage is entwined with Eliot's intellectual and professional growth, and the juxtaposition provides a fascinating framework. But the diary-and-episode format used, while illuminating, tends to detract from the dramatic climaxes latent in the play.

The picture of T.S. Eliot painted by Playwright Michael Hastings is far from a flattering one.  The writer appears as such an insecure, tyrannical pedant that it is hard to understand how Vivienne loved him to the end of her days. The depiction of Vivienne is more balanced-- she is endowed with faults as well as virtues, and more insights are provided into both.

The play is incredibly well cast. David Dawson particularly brings to life the character of Vivienne's father. Karen Eterovich as Vivienne, and David James O'Brien and Sheila Mart as her brother and mother, are also outstanding.