★★★★★ ‘A masterpiece - extraordinarily profound and yet playful drama’ - The Guardian
The five-star sold out production of The Years transfers to the West End for 12 weeks only.
Based on Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux’s fearless masterpiece, five actors create an unapologetic portrait of a woman shaped by her rapidly-changing world.
Memory never stops. It pairs the dead with the living, real with imaginary beings, dreams with history.
She strikes a pose and the camera shutter clicks: A child playing in the debris of the Second World War. Click. A student discovering parties and men’s bodies. Click. An activist fighting for the right to choose. Click. A wife picking out a velvet sofa. Click. A mother taking her eldest to judo. Click. A lover seducing a younger man. Click. A grandmother presenting her granddaughter to the camera. Click.
Deborah Findlay, Romola Garai, Gina McKee, Anjli Mohindra and Harmony Rose-Bremner give ‘extraordinary performances’ (The Observer) in Eline Arbo’s inventive adaptation, following sold out runs at the Almeida Theatre and International Theatre Amsterdam.
Coming to the West End for a strictly limited 12 week run beginning January 2025. Romola Garai will be in performances of The Years through Saturday 8 March. Further casting to be announced at a later date.
★★★★★ ‘A unique, profoundly moving experience. It moved me in ways theatre often tries to but rarely achieves’ The Independent
__Assisted Perfromances:__
BSL, 8 March, 2:30pm
Captioned, 15 March, 2:30pm
Audio Described, 22 March, 2:30pm
What hasn’t arguably been seen on stage to such effect before (and it’s had audience-members fainting) is the re-enacting, by Romola Garai’s version of Annie, of an unwanted pregnancy and back-street abortion. It relays harrowing distress and starkly emblemises the plight of generations of women – an indictment of the burden that fell on them before the supposed liberation of the contraceptive pill and rise of feminism.
The production prompts big questions: Who are we supposed to be? How will we be remembered? The Years does not offer an answer, only the aching reminder of what we must ask ourselves before it’s too late, and to enjoy the time we have whilst we’re here. And what an enjoyable time it is to spend 2 hours in its company. I urge everyone to go.
| 1992 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 2025 | West End |
West End |
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