Almeida / Harold Pinter Theatre
The Years, based on Annie Ernaux’s semi-autobiographical book Les Années, features Deborah Findlay, Romola Garai, Gina McKee, Anjli Mohindra and Harmony Rose-Bremner playing the same character at five different stages of her life, as well as the other people they encounter. The play is adapted and directed by Eline Arbo. Sex, like a river, runs through a play that includes much humour and a harrowing abortion scene. The critics were generally impressed by the acting and the way the story was told, but some dissenting reviewers found it didn’t take off. The original Almeida production with the same cast transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre on 24 January 2025. Reviews of the original 2024 production at The Almeida are below the more recent West End reviews.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Calling it ‘a triumph’, LondonTheatre‘s Olivia Rook (5★) explained, ‘Womanhood in all its many forms is laid bare on a sparse stage, which rightly steals none of the attention from the drama’s five accomplished actors’.
Greg Stewart’s review for Theatre Weekly (5★) concluded: ‘this is a play that is both beautiful and wondrous: a story that feels intimately personal yet universally resonant. By the final click of the imagined camera, the play achieves what all great memoirs aspire to—it becomes not just a record of one life, but a mirror held to our own’
The Telegraph‘s Dominic Cavendish (4★) pointed out,’ there’s a brisk levity to the shared narration that risks creating a distance’. But, as the play progressed, he found, ‘We’ve moved from something theatrically efficient and useful to something exquisitely mysterious, like life itself.’
Despite saying ‘the storyline itself is surprisingly wooden at times’, The Times’ Clive Davis (4★) declared ‘it’s an acting masterclass.’
‘The West End is awash with adaptations but here is one which stands head and shoulders above the rest,’ declared Alexander Cohen in BroadwayWorld (4★). ‘Each (actor) brings a unique freshness, organic mannerisms that glimmer from within. But together they form a glowing ensemble, one that stretches the play’s muscles into each corner of the space.’
Reviews from The Almeida run
Holly O’Mahony in The Stage (5★) described it as ‘an exploration of womanhood that is as riveting as it is reflective, passionate yet void of sentimentality, and rebelliously sexual from start to finish. It is simultaneously a personal story, a generational one and universal in its depictions of the female experience.’ She said, ‘It’s a woman in her own words, unfiltered, impassioned and sincere.’
The Guardian‘s Arifa Akbar (5★) extolled its many virtues: ‘Wit and whimsy sits alongside darkness and you feel the protagonist’s blackest moments keenly but there is sisterliness, too, as other versions of the woman acknowledge the trauma of the moment’ and ‘While this woman’s life is full of compromise, it is in no way a disappointment. Sexual expression and joy become key across the ages and it is joyous in itself to see this enacted so uninhibitedly on stage.’ She concluded, ‘you feel the passage of time, both in this protagonist’s life and your own. It leaves theoretical questions around history, memory and love in the mind, long after its end. There is so much emotional depth, surprise and theatrical virtuosity here that it holds you rapt across the ages. What an accomplishment.’
Isobel Lewis for The Independent (5★) said, ‘a tapestry of history is weaved, constructing the full, extraordinary image of a life that is, in many ways, totally ordinary. The play captures these contradictions, finding laughter in tragedy and devastating detail in mundanity. It moved me in ways theatre often tries to but rarely achieves.’
Fiona Mountford at the i (5★) told how ‘The five performers mesh together mesmerically; they are all Annie, as Annie, like everyone, is a permanent palimpsest of memories. These superlative two hours make us reflect profoundly upon our own position in, and transition through, this procession of photographs, memories and life stages.’
‘I shall remember The Years for many a theatre season to come,’ declared Matt Wolf for TheArtsDesk (5★). He described how ‘We sense her adolescent awakening, sex and sexual desire a leitmotif throughout, and the way in which age confers wisdom and enlightenment alongside a bewilderment at a younger generation whose shared lexicon may not be available to their elders.’
The Observer‘s Susannah Clapp (5★) was impressed that the production ‘gives new life to the uneasy relationship between page and stage, showing that adaptation can be not simply piggybacking but revelation. Arbo’s reimagining…cleaves open an important piece of literature and makes its significance glow.’ About the cast, she said, ‘these actors make everything count.’
‘With minor reservations, I absolutely loved this,’ said Nick Curtis in the Standard (4★). He expanded, ‘Findlay may be less well known outside theatre circles (despite a strong screen career), but her presence is a guarantee of quality. McKee’s blend of nuance and swagger here made me think she should be the next Doctor Who. Garai is commandingly brilliant. Mohindra and Rose-Bremner are bold and charming. A winner.’ His reservation? ‘It’s yet another play where a writer bangs on about writing and showcases their own impeccable cultural taste’.
Time Out‘s Andrjez Lukowski (4★) thought it was ‘a playful couple of hours, fluidly directed by Albo. There are harrowing moments but it’s also full of humour and humorous interplay.’ He said, ‘the performers are charismatic, fierce, playful’, and observed, ‘none of what we’re seeing is really ‘the past’, ‘the future’ or ‘now’; it’s a human life, which includes all these events equally.’
Dominic Maxwell in The Times (4★) wrote, ‘The longer it goes on, the more joyous it feels, even as it looks decay and obsolescence in the face. Other characters are deliberately sketchy. You leave, though, understanding this woman’s place in the world — and by extension your own — in a new way. It’s a real eye-opener.’
Patrick Marmion in the Mail (4★) was complimentary: ‘Between them, the five women create a frank, unsettling and thoughtful performance that might best be described as a game of cherchez la femme.’
Alun Hood for WhatsOnStage (3★) had mixed feelings about it: ‘I found myself torn between being moved by its female driven authenticity and the consistent vision of one woman navigating seismic times, then utterly frustrated by its elliptical nature. It’s certainly not a good play by any traditional standards, but it has a haunting insistence that can’t be written off.’ He described it as ‘a bewildering mixed bag as a piece of theatre, but it’s strangely magnificent. It’s tremendously self-indulgent, sometimes clumsily staged… but it’s also gamely, sometimes stunningly, performed and full of roaring life.’
Dzifa Benson writing for the Telegraph (3★) found ‘(Arbo’s) reverence for her source material hampers its execution on stage; she doesn’t quite manage to slough off its limitations, which prevents the play from becoming a truly adventurous take on Ernaux’s work. In this production, it’s the acting that saves the day.’
Gary Naylor in BroadwayWorld (3★) was blunter, calling the story ‘a middle class life, one insulated from poverty by money and education, one blessed with friends and family and achievement, but also presented as unfulfilled, paralysed by ennui and hobbled by unsatisfactory men,’ but acknowledged that if you put that aside you might find it ‘a moving and thought-provoking two hours’.
Critics’ Average Rating 4.4★
Value rating 50 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price)
The Years can be seen at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 24 January until 24 April 2025. Buy tickets direct from the theatre.
Read Paul Seven Lewis’s review of The Years here or watch it on YouTube
If you’ve seen The Years at the Harold Pinter or the Almeida Theatre, please add your review and rating below