Theatre

Talisa Dean 10/02/25


The Years

Some plays make you laugh. Some make you cry. And some have a reputation for consistently making people faint.

The Years manages all three.

After a debut sold-out run at The Almeida – positively flooded by critical acclaim – the show’s now transferred to The Harold Pinter theatre (just off Leicester Square) for a limited 12 week run. And if you’ve been considering booking some culture into your diary, this is the one to watch: an utterly gripping, bracingly frank piece of storytelling, led by an exceptional cast.

The show is an unashamedly bold adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s memoir The Years (originally published as Les Années in her native French) that traces her life from 1941 to 2006. It’s multi-layered. In the background is a 60 year fast forward through history; a flip book highlighting the most poignant political and social changes. You’ll see the world shift around her, shaped by major events like the war, Martin Luther King’s speech and the fall of the Berlin Wall – but also the invention of the radio, colour TV, Walkmans, laptops and more. However, in the foreground is the very intimate experience of being a woman: discovering one’s sexuality, and how that can shift (often disappointingly) in the context of young, naive men; the conflict between intellect and motherhood: abortion; loss of identity after having children; empty nest syndrome; and so on.

the years show west end

Ali Wright

As a woman, particularly, you can’t help but feel this strong sense of sisterhood – a recognition of what it means to be a female and, in moments, the strength and resilience it takes, which is further reflected in the incredible, multi-talented all-female cast. At points each of the five lead actors – Deborah Findlay, Romola Garai, Gina McKee, Anjli Mohindra and Harmony Rose-Bremner – steps forward to embody Ernaux herself, however they all also effortlessly support the other women, shifting dramatically between age and gender, but also from acting, to singing, to playing everything from the keyboard to the ukulele.

The intensity of feeling is powered by a simple set, mostly centred around a table and a run of white tablecloths, often stained, and later strung up to represent that snapshot in time. The added intimacy of the close-quartered Harold Pinter theatre means you are staring deeply in to the eyes of each woman as she talks you through these personal but relatable female experiences.

The play itself takes time to gear up as your brain adjusts to the stylised, sometimes awkward text, but it quickly picks up, pulling you from the highest of highs (at points it’s laugh-out-loud funny) to the lowest of lows (some so dark it felt more than coincidental that someone in our showing fainted, causing a brief pause to the performance), towards an ending so heart-wrenchingly beautiful you both want to spoil it and keep it safe, aware of its immense power for audiences to come.

 

NOTE: The Years runs at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 19th April 2025. Tickets are going fast – you can snap them up from £17.50 here.

The Years | Harold Pinter Theatre, Panton St, London SW1Y 4DN


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The Years


Harold Pinter Theatre, Panton Street, Leicester Square, SW1Y 4DN