{This production contains graphic depictions of abortion, blood, a coerced sexual encounter, and sexual content, which may at times be distressing. The production includes the use of e-cigarettes, haze and flashing lights.}
Eline Arbo’s adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s novel The Years (Les Années in the French original) is not without its controversy, having raised media attention during its run at the Almeida last year after several audience members fainted in response to a graphic abortion scene midway through.
Now staged at the Harold Pinter Theatre, the play maintains the Almeida cast and the capacity to shock. Despite trigger warnings on the website and around the theatre, the press performance on 5th February was paused for several minutes following the abortion scene to allow an audience member to receive medical attention.
While the scene, performed by Romola Garai, is undoubtedly shocking and graphic, it is also sensitively handled and deserves its place in the narrative of The Years.
The story, of an unnamed woman who, by continually referring to herself as “we”, becomes all women, is set against the backdrop of the twentieth century. It is a story, as the protagonist herself says, of “people and memories and time”, of the huge events which make up a century and the smaller ones which make up a life.
The cast, consisting of Deborah Findlay, Romola Garai, Gina McKee, Anjli Mohindra, and Harmony Rose-Bremner, take it in turns to play both the lead and the supporting roles. Family dinners are a staple of the narrative, with the protagonist commenting on how her position at the table changes. So too are photographs, which the cast recreate by posing against white sheets.
These sheets become the backdrop of Juul Dekker’s set, a backdrop which grows with the stains collected over the course of the protagonist’s life - blood, wine, graffiti and confetti all making their way onto the ‘walls’.
Dekker’s set is sparse, a table and chairs serving as the centrepiece for the action. The tablecloths act not only as backdrops for the set itself and for the numerous photographs which punctuate the action, but also as bedsheets and, bundled up, as children or cats.
This suits the play, allowing the words and the actresses performing them to shine. And shine they do, from Romola Garai’s dead-eyed stare at the end of the abortion scene to Anjli Mohindra and Harmony Rose-Brenner’s playful discovery of masturbation during their school days.
Sexuality is key to the piece and many of the world events most emphasised are those that control or facilitate women’s ability to act upon their own desire.
Live music is used throughout the play to tap into the changing eras, with the cast performing everything from patriotic numbers to rock and roll hits under Thijs van Vuure’s music supervision.
Throughout the play, the protagonist vacillates when it comes to her level of interest in the political issues of the day. Through her middle years she is more overtly political while at the beginning and end of her life she is more self-interested.
But whether rooted in history or rooted in her own desires, the woman’s story at the centre of The Years has a wide-reaching appeal. It is about her, but is also about us. And it is exquisite on every level.
The Years runs at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 19th April.
★★★★★ (5*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Helen Murray
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