Review of The Years at Harold Pinter Theatre West End

Eline Arbo’s adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s life-affirming memoir cum social history – a transfer from The Almeida – beautifully captures this by having five actors play one woman’s journey from post War to the noughties.

Each life phase is introduced by a tableau of a photograph against a white sheet.

The cast of The Years, a transfer from The Almeida Theatre Islington to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End. (Image: Helen Murray) The sheets, stained with wine, baby food, blood, glitter, insults, and political slogans, are then strung across Juul Dekker’s black box set in tribute to a nuanced, messy life, counted out in a thousand Sunday lunches with mothers, lovers, children and friends.

Five phenomenal performers, Harmony Rose-Bremner, Anjli Mohindra, Romola Garai, Gina McKee, and Deborah Findlay gently tag each other as they pass the baton – then step back into a chorus which evokes the music, politics, passions and philosophy of each era.

They play live, and sing – Rose-Bremner is particularly strong vocally. After a harrowing backstreet abortion, they bring buckets and tenderly clean Garai’s blood-stained body.

Arbo offers a masterclass in storytelling in this playful, ensemble piece that allows each performer to bring humour to Ernaux’s bracingly honest account of a life.

A smock-clad Rose-Bremner is the cheeky, truculent pre-pubescent, Mohindra the sexually curious 50s student, Garai the politically engaged but harried 60s mother, McKee the menopausal lover in the throes of late life passion, and Findlay the wry, still sexual, older Annie, who finally finds time to write.

Thijs Van Vuure’s sound design, snatches of song, a humming note, captures the energy of each time period, and despite running at nearly two hours with no interval, Arbo ensures this refreshingly joyful feminist piece never feels laboured.

The Years runs until April 19 at the Harold Pinter Theatre, West End.