Photo: Ali Wright
Writer: Annie Ernaux
Adaptor and director: Eline Arbo
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For anyone now approaching the end of their life, it may be possible to skim through prints of photographs taken over many decades in just a couple of hours, which is about the length of this play. Future generations, born into the age of digital photography, could find this process taking much more time, but will the memories that the imag evoke be anything like as vivid?
Adapted from Les Années by Annie Ernaux, The Years tells, in autobiographical form, the life story of one unremarkable woman. Each memory triggered by an old photograph. Connecting the play’s framework to Shakespeare, an alternative title could be “The Five Ages of Woman” as it moves from “mewling and puking” to “sans everything”, represented by five women, all sharing in the storytelling and each acting out scenes from specific times in the writer’s life.
Written down, this sounds dull, but adaptor and director Eline Arbo makes sure that her production is anything but that. The five women are Deborah Findlay, Romola Garai, Gina McKee, Anjli Mohindra and Harmony Rose-Bremner. The calibre of these actors should be enough to alert us to the quality of the material and they energise a production that is, throughout, animated and inventive.
The play matches the the trivial with the momentous. Born during World War II in German-occupied France, the writer tells of living through an era of enormous changes for women against the backdrop of distant wars in Algeria, Iraq and the Balkans. She experiences sexual awaking, abortion, marriage, motherhood and divorce. She has many loves, but never finishes her novel, except that this is probably it. An ordinary life lived in extraordinary times.
The play is captivating, funny and harrowing. A scene in which the five women celebrate the arrival of the 1980s by partaking in an aerobics class is pure joy, while the abortion scene, depicted in excruciating detail, is sheer agony. Half-forgotten brand names are mourned and new arrivals such as fridges, vacuum cleaners and hair dryers are welcomed. At the same time, thoughts of the Holocaust lurk in the air and the rise of the French far right sends shivers down the spine.
The Years is a wonderfully literate and totally absorbing piece of storytelling. At its heart lies an account of female emancipation, but those of us who are not women need not be put off by that. These memories can be enjoyed by all.
Performance date: 1 August 2024
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