The Years ★★★★ Almeida Theatre | Jul 27 - Aug 31, 2024


Nobel Prize-winner Annie Ernaux’s Les Années maps the author's personal journey onto the history of France from 1941 until 2006. It has been effectively adapted by Eline Arbo for the stage and in turn five actors (Deborah Findlay, Romola Garai, Gina McKee, Anjli Mohindra, and Harmony Rose-Bremner) either play the unnamed protagonist or act as a narrator/chorus for her experience. The cast adroitly slide into and out of character, and each bring strengths to the role although Garai and Rose-Bremner stood out for us. The trigger for the series of personal and social memories that are elaborated in the narrative is apparently a series of snapshots taken at various points in the central character's life. However, despite the vivid portrayal of her family history, her sexual experiences, and her political involvement there is a sense of detachment throughout. Her youthful obsession with masturbation, her disquieting first sexual encounter, her horrific illegal abortion, her tumbling into an unsatisfactory marriage, the challenges of motherhood, divorce and later her uncontrollable passion for her lovers may be presented so graphically that they are shocking, but it is all done rather dispassionately. It is as if this were a life lived primarily as grist for the artistic mill, whether it is the photographs which bring back the memories, or the journals which have been fashioned into this artful memoir. The character reflects, but doesn't really reflect upon her experience, and the viewer is kept at a distance. Any moral, or even emotional, perspective put on events tends to come from the audience. For the most part we are simply given the artifacts of a personal and political history and are invited to put our own construction on them – humour, nostalgia, or horror. Paul Cézanne is reputed to have said “Monet is only an eye, but my God what an eye!" The same might be said of Annie Ernaux and this adaptation of The Years.

Rated: ★★★★

Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Ali Wright

Want to save on tickets? See our Tips page.

When, Where, Getting there:
Map & Location: Almeida St, London N1 1TA, UK

Most Popular

Love in Action ★★★★★ Sadler's Wells Theatre | Oct 31 - Nov 2, 2024

Image
Hideki Noda's Love in Action is a wonderfully wild ride into Japanese history centred on the bombing of Nagasaki in 1945. The piece which is based on Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov centres around the trial of Tomitaro, one of the Karamatsu brothers. He is accused of murdering his father as a result of a love triangle in which he shared a mistress with his parent. The story loosely follows the Russian author's original with Tomitaro's two brothers representing two contrasting perspectives on reality, the scientific and the spiritual, but in this version there is also a deeply political allegory. This is all broadly played for laughs, and the show abounds with wacky references to Western cultural touchstones from Leonardo's The Last Supper to Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire . There are also some brilliantly loony allusions to current pop culture. Who saw a quotation from Dirty Dancing coming? It is all a delightfully manic mishmash, and just...
Full Details »

Wing Chun ★★★ Sadler’s Wells Theatre | Aug 30 - Sep 7, 2024

Image
Wing Chun is a dance drama that celebrates the eponymous martial art and its noted practitioner, Yip Man, who was the teacher of film star, Bruce Lee. The show presents its protagonist's story through a series of tableaux and movement sequences that are cleverly framed by the device of making a silent film. The latter endeavour parallels the struggles of Yip Man, who strives to establish a martial arts school, with the narrative of Da Chun, a young film maker who is trying to depict that story. Wing Chun is a visually seductive experience which has some absolutely breathtaking moments that reference classical ballet, modern dance and breakdancing. For us, however, the high points were the action scenes and the displays of the various styles of self-defence. Chang Hongji as Yip Man performs some extraordinary physical feats as he takes on the bullies and bandits of the House of 72 Tenants where he takes up residence in Hong Kong. And, his achievements are brilliantly matched by th...
Full Details »

St. Martin in-the-fields: Lunchtime Concerts ★★★★ FREE

Image
Maybe the best musical value in London. The lunchtime concerts at St. Martin's are always a wonderful way to escape the hustle and bustle that is London and the sensory overload that is Trafalgar Square. This is a beautiful setting with great acoustics, and a church pew hard enough to make sure you don't nod off. Reviewed by J.C.  Our score:    ☆☆☆☆  WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE: Mon & Fri: 1 pm - 1:45 pm ( occasionally Tues & Thurs)  St. Martin in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square Nearest tube: Charing Cross https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whats-on
Full Details »

The Elixir of Love ★★★★★ London Coliseum | Nov 15 - Dec 5, 2024

Image
One of the most staged of all operas, Donizetti's The Elixir of Love is always an audience favourite, and this production definitely demonstrates the reason for its popularity. All the romcom elements are present, and this company squeezes lots of fun from the familiar and fulfilling formula. In this version set in WWII, Rhian Lois puts in a delightful performance as the willful and vivacious Adina who spurns and teases her lovestruck suitor, Nemorino, until he suddenly becomes the heartthrob sought after by all the women at the manor house. Lois is at the top of her game, and her voice sparkles with a luminosity and liquidity that ensures that Nemorino is not the only one enamoured by her charms. As the timid, but determined devotee of the fickle Adina, Thomas Atkins, like his character, seemed to grow in confidence on the night we attended. His singing of the aria, "Una furtiva lagrima" in Act II was nothing short of a triumph. As Belcore, Dan D'Souza was delightfu...
Full Details »

Going for Gold ★★★ Park Theatre | November 6 - 30, 2024

Image
In 1962, when nine-year-old Frankie Lucas enters Ken Rimmington's amateur boxing club, the boy's life is changed forever. Rimmington, an ambitious young policeman who is running the boxing facility as an outreach programme for disadvantaged youth, starts the young Lucas on a path which will define his life. In 1972, and in 1973, he becomes the British Amateur Boxing Association's middleweight champion, but in 1974 he is passed over to represent England in the Commonwealth Games in favour of a boxer whom he has previously defeated. Nevertheless, he then goes on to represent his birthplace of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in those games and claims the gold medal for his athletic prowess. Next, he joins the boxing team coached by George Francis, and at this point, his career stalls and begins to spiral downward as he becomes involved in drugs and suffers from mental illness. Lisa Lintott has written a compassionate and compelling biography of Lucas' personal and profess...
Full Details »

The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence ★★★★ Victoria & Albert Museum | Nov 9, 2024 - May 5, 2025

Image
When thinking of the Mughal period in India, one's first thought may be of the Taj Mahal, but this exhibition demonstrates that there is so much more to this fascinating era. The dynasty which was established by Babur in 1526 and which became known as Mughal, a derivation of the Persian word for Mongol, was a golden age in which the arts flourished. The era lasted from 1580 to 1650 and covers the reigns of Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. These Muslim rulers created an atmosphere of remarkable religious tolerance. That openness is beautifully illustrated by a page from a manuscript which shows a Muslim pilgrim learning a lesson in piety from a Brahman. It is this atmosphere that fosters the evolution of a distinctive style that extends from jewellery, to fabrics, to book illustration. It culminates in architectural masterpieces like Akbar's creation of the Agra Fort and Shah Jahan's commission of the extraordinary tomb for his wife, the Taj Mahal. Divided into historical gal...
Full Details »

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ★★★★ Ambassadors Theatre | Oct 10, 2024 - Feb 15, 2025

Image
This delightful new musical is loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story of the same name, and it reflects the author's obsession with the irreversible nature of time and its effect on love. In The Great Gatsby , the protagonist had a doomed determination to hold onto the past and to believe that his youthful infatuation could triumph over time. Here, Benjamin's love and happiness are threatened by the fact that, unlike other people, he is becoming younger. His soulmate, Elowen, may age, but he is fated to become even more youthful than his own children. This current version of Fitzgerald's fable is set in Cornwall, and the score of the show benefits from the infectious rhythm and melodies associated with Celtic music. Darren Clark's score is both catchy and moving. Songs like "Matter of Time," "The Moon and The Sea" and "A Little Life" not only advance the narrative, but are memorable in their own right. The story is recounted...
Full Details »

Pop Off, Michelangelo! ★★★ The Other Palace | November 4 & 5, 2024

Image
This amazingly ahistorical romp imagines a friendship between Renaissance artists, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. It presents the pair as gay friends who go to the same school and eventually develop an artistic rivalry. Other figures from the period like Raphael and Savonarola are also woven into the surreal story which delights in anachronisms and has some sharply amusing commentary on the Catholic Church, the art world and the challenges of being gay in a homophobic society. Songs like "When You Met Your Son Jesus," "Networking Event," and "Drawn To You" have some very funny and very clever lyrics. Nevertheless, Pop Off, Michelangelo! still seems like a work in progress. Even for a spoof some of the characters are very thin and the book needs development. When one compares the show to a pop historical musical like Six or the equally irreverent The Book of Mormon, it feels as if the fundamentals may be present, but there is still lots of work to be...
Full Details »

The Rite of Spring / common ground[s] ★★★★ Sadler's Wells Theatre | November 6 - 10, 2024

Image
The threads running throughout these two pieces are the spirit of late choreographer, Pina Bausch, and the inspiration of African dance. The first work, common ground[s] , features Malou Airaudo who created major roles in Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal and Germaine Acogny, co-founder of the premier African company, École des Sables. These doyennes of dance expressively explore different traditions of movement which unite to form an eternal human bond. The piece is also a moving meditation on aging and the passage of time. Dawn breaks at its beginning, and it concludes with a nightfall haunted by a rhythm reminiscent of a heartbeat. common ground[s] proves to be a perfect introduction to Bausch's interpretation of Stravinsky's masterpiece, which is also a reflection on mutability, seeing human sacrifice in the context of the cycle of nature. The work is performed by dancers recruited from fourteen African countries, and they perform on a soil covered stage. Their impassione...
Full Details »

Burnt-Up Love ★★ Finborough Theatre | Oct 29 - Nov 23, 2024

Image
Having killed his wife, Mac has spent twenty years in prison. What has kept him going is imagining his abandoned daughter's life, whether she is now a concert pianist, teacher or something equally positive and fulfilling. Unfortunately in reality, his child is apparently an individual who suffers from bipolar disorder and whose condition has probably been exacerbated by her traumatic childhood. She lacks empathy and ends up committing a crime which is equally horrendous to that which her father committed. While Ché Walker's play is ostensibly about reintegrating prisoners back into society, on his release, Mac, despite a well-honed stoicism, ends up committing another brutal crime. Apparently, as a result of this new act of paternal violence, his daughter claims that she has changed. However, the audience has no real reason to believe that assertion, and it seems unlikely that a lifetime of damage can be turned around by her father's savage act of protection, plus a new-fou...
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings