The Years, Harold Pinter Theatre Review
Harmony Rose-Bremner, Romola Garai, Gina McKee and Deborah Findlay in The Years. Photo by Helen Murray
Written by Sarah for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
The Years is the English stage adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s Booker-nominated autobiography ‘Les Années’ that was originally produced for the Almeida Theatre in 2024. Eline Arbo of the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, Skillfully adapts and directs this transfer to the West Ends’ Harold Pinter Theatre.
A Greek chorus of five women of different ages and by implication, different stages of life, are played by Deborah Findlay, Romola Garai, Gina McKee, Anjli Mohindra and Harmony Rose-Bremne. The actors narrate in the third person, as Ernaux’s life story unfolds, largely set in France, spans across six decades. The Years calls us to question how we remember, experience and frame our own lives over time, and perhaps what remains after we have gone. Photographs, global events, snatches of memory are interwoven though monologues, interactions, projections, music and song all played by the stellar cast; theatrically it is a masterclass in storytelling. The use of third person narrative gives breadth to the stories and successfully brings a universality to very personal experiences.
More pronounced than usual, there is a palpable sense that our subjective experience of the world will inform how we interpret and experience the play. Moments of recognition from those that lived through the dawning of the new millennium, the relief at surviving the Y2K bug and the end of the world that was prophesied. Similarly, the audience recall where they were during 9/11, or their early sexual experiences as they are taken through a journey of Ernaux’s life.
These subjective lenses are particularly apparent in the audience's visceral responses to a graphic depiction of an abortion. Having failed to self abort with knitting needles, Ernaux seeks the help of a back street abortionist. Later a gruelling retelling of a usually private moment, having to self deliver and dispose of the aborted fetus.
Covered in blood, the character describes a ‘baby doll’ coming out of her over the toilet bowl, still attached to its umbilical cord; she has to waddle back to her room to cut it. It is during this scene that the production has to be stopped twice to ‘assist members of the audience’ who have either vomited or fainted. A visceral example of the power of theatre. And whilst this moment was clearly too gruesome or overwhelming for some, for others, for the thousands of women that have similar experiences, perhaps it serves as validation of the trauma or relief for others to witness how bloody, messy and painful the experience of womanhood can be. This event takes place in the early 1960’s.when abortion was illegal and many women in this position died as a result of illegal terminations; the personal is political. This is artfully achieved throughout the play as these life experiences are considered in the wider social and political landscape.
However, the script is also peppered with moments of delightful comedy; a 1980’s aerobics class with a pathologically cheerful and hyper enthusiastic instructor (Harmony Rose-Bremner ) or Deborah Findlay and Gina McKee, playing as two young boys which ends with them egging each other on and their dinner all over the table, much to the despair of their exasperated mother. It is a joy to watch the actors take on various other characters and their ensemble playing also evokes a sense of sisterhood. Particularly moving, was the care the women took over the protagonist after the abortion scene, using cloths to almost ritualistically wash her and support her to recover; as women have done throughout history.
One criticism of the production, which so often happens with transfers, is that it was not redesigned for the larger venue so it doesn’t seem to fill the space and lacks an intimacy which inevitably would make it more powerful. Overall it is a rare and artful autobiographical work, cleverly translated, directed and performed to create a moving, unique, thought provoking and visceral piece of theatre that hits on many levels.
At Harold Pinter Theatre until 19 April 2025
★ ★ ★ ★
