A solid, intimate three-part BBC drama, Life in Squares looks to the bohemian Bloomsbury Group in the first half of the twentieth century. Unusually, writer Amanda Coe focuses on Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant rather than Nessa’s sister, Virginia Woolf.
The story unfolds from the early years of the 20th century following the death of the Stephens sisters’ father. An outspoken Vanessa (Phoebe Fox) is determined to have an independent life alongside the emotionally fragile Virginia (Lydia Leonard). She is to follow her passion in painting whilst her sister is to write. The sudden death of supportive elder brother Thoby from typhoid brings matters to a head, with Vanessa unexpectedly agreeing to marry Clive Bell (Sam Hoare), a Cambridge friend of Thoby. A life of nonconformity is to follow.
Artists, writers, publishers, philosophers, lovers weave in and out of Life in Squares: weddings, affairs, births, deaths, attempted suicides: two world wars, one Spanish civil war. Central is Nessa’s love for gay Duncan Grant (James Norton), a passion that is to result in the eventual birth of daughter Angelica. The two lived together with a shared love for their art for more than 30 years in Charleston, a Sussex home initially set up by Nessa Bell to escape London and the constancy of Clive’s affairs. The outside world rarely ventures in, so insulated and claustrophobic is the world of the group, whether in London or Sussex.
Directed by Simon Kaijser, the earlier years work better as a drama (episodes one and two) as time is spent and social conventions are more overtly challenged. A change of actors for the ageing of the characters, along with a somewhat rushed timeline to reach the 1940s, works less well.
Rating: 63%
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