Find out what is being said about Eline Arbo’s production starring Romola Garai.
Broadway World: *** “Laughs are far from our minds as Romola Garai portrays the 20-something woman, pitched into the radical movements of the 60s, particularly the emancipation of women and the end of the Algerian war. She is harrowing in her re-enactment of a backstreet abortion, which strongly reminded me of Audrey Diwan’s dazzling and distressing 2021 film Happening, also based on an Earnaux novel.”
WhatsOnStage: *** “The Years is 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.”
Time Out: **** “In ‘The Years’ 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. Arbo’s production is not technically flashy, but a final scene in which the actors freeze into a tableau of photos of Ernaux from across her life is intensely moving, everything everywhere all at once.”
Evening Standard: **** “Anyway, you should see it for this cast. 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.”
The Reviews Hub: **** “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.”
The Independent: ***** “A stage version of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s masterpiece, in which five women play the author throughout her life, manages the extraordinary feat of intricately telling the story of a whole life in less than two hours.”
The Stage: ***** “With direction from Eline Arbo, this adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s memoir is a riveting and profound exploration of womanhood, performed with delicacy and nuance.”
The Years continues to play at the Almeida Theatre until the 31st August.