Outhwaite, McKee & Martin are Di & Viv & Rose at Hampstead

Tamsin Outhwaite, Gina McKee and Anna Maxwell Martin will star in Di and Viv and Rose at Hampstead Theatre next year, which becomes the first production to transfer from the Downstairs studio to the main stage.

It’ll be followed in the spring season by Nina Raine‘s world premiere production of William Boyd’s play Longing, based on two short stories by Chekhov.

Written by Amelia Bullmore, Di and Viv and Rose, which premiered in the Downstairs in 2011, is billed as a “funny and insightful comedy” centring on three university friends as they progress through life. Outhwaite (Sweet Charity) reprises her role as Di, with McKee (King Lear, Donmar) as Viv and Martin (Cabaret) as Rose.

Opening on 23 January 2013 (previews from 17 January) for a month-long run, it’s directed by Anna Mackmin, whose recent credits include Hedda Gabler, The Real Thing and Dancing at Lughnasa at the Old Vic. She also helmed Bullmore’s debut play Mammals, which won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Di and Viv and Rose is followed in the main space by William Boyd’s Longing, which runs from 7 March to 13 April (previews from 28 February).

Based on two short stories by Chekhov, novelist William Boyd (An Ice-Cream War, Any Human Heart, Waiting for Sunrise) spins “a tale of nineteenth century Russian life both familiar and unfamiliar”.

When Kolia is invited to visit his oldest friends on their estate in the country he anticipates a pleasant break from Moscow life. But as the comedy of provincial life plays out around him, he finds himself adrift in a miasma of false expectations, missed opportunities and unspoken passions.

Director Nina Raine returns to Hampstead Theatre following her play Tiger Country in 2010, which she also directed.  As experienced a writer as a director, her recent directing credits include the April de Angelis’ Jumpy (Royal Court and West End), Shades by Alia Bano (Royal Court) and Unprotected (Liverpool Everyman) for which she won the TMA Best Director Award.

Currently at Hampstead, 55 Days, starring Mark Gatiss as Charles I, continues until 24 November 2012.