The Years
This is a brilliant adaption of Annie Ernaux's novel by Eline Arbo that explores the power of a woman’s memories through the decades, in an unflinchingly raw way, taking us the audience through her various stages of girlhood to womanhood and motherhood; youth to menopause and old age.
It cleverly uses the device of using each of the 5 fantastic actors to recreate the main character’s different ages and identities, during her different stages of life. The actors are onstage throughout, and when not playing the character are her friends, sisters, mum, aunt, children and so on. The decades start with the imagery of one of the actors standing in front of a white canvas sheet, and a photo being described.
I was slightly apprehensive about watching this. But I needn’t have been. I had seen the trigger warnings, and read a little to know about a disturbing backstreet abortion scene, played out by the wonderful Romola Garai, and had heard of audience members being triggered.
And yes, it is important to warn people, and yes, on the night I was there, there was a 10 minute show stop whilst some people briefly left the auditorium, and whilst a member of the audience was assisted with a health issue, just after the distressing scene. But it was all dealt with very calmly by a terrific front of house team, armed with bottles of water and tissues for those who needed it, and with the cast remaining on stage.
What I had not expected, and which was very welcome, alongside the power and emotions that the reported scene had evoked, alongside some other graphic scenes, was the humour and warmth that the piece had throughout. So yes, there were the scenes that left you feeling queasy to the pit of your stomach, but there were also laugh out loud moments that made you feel warm and human; and scenes that left you with hope for the future.
The 5 actors, Romola Garai, Deborah Findlay, Gina McKee and relative newcomers Anjli Mohindra and Harmony Rose-Bremner were all phenomenal. Funny, energetic, real, moving. They all employed some wonderful musicality, and movement. Frankly it’s impossible to choose any of the performances over the others.
Direction from Eline Arbo was incredibly creative. This had a set design, which allowed the set to evolve through the decades, in a way that the audience didn’t notice until the end. It was really simple yet effective.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this. It was at times a hard watch, but as indicated above, it wasn’t a hard watch throughout. Not at all. The storytelling, the acting, the staging, the use of some glorious (and at times memory inducing) music; it all was fantastic.
I would describe this as an extraordinarily moving piece of theatre. Actually, a masterclass in acting and performance, and the skill of bringing the audience on a journey, from the immensely talented 5 actors. Both shocking, beautiful and life affirming. Unmissable theatre.
This show was reviewed on the 5th February 2025 at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London where it runs until the 19th April 2025. Tickets can be purchased here: The Years | Official Box Office | Harold Pinter Theatre
Review written by Ruth Hawkins
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Photo credit: Helen Murray
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