A Little Life

Saw this today at the cinema and was blown away. I read the book a couple of years ago so knew the subject matter would be difficult but I had no idea it would be captured so well and acted so beautifully for the stage. The weaving in and out of Jude's past experiences and present day was very well presented and so well done for the stage. The lighting, live orchestra and camera work plus close ups make this so transferable to the big screen that I hardly noticed the audience. Utterly powerful, tragic, poignant, funny at times and true to the book - in my opinion sometimes better. James Norton has surpassed himself in this, he is compelling to watch, and the rest of the cast were excellent with not one weak performance. This is not a play to see if you are squeamish or shy away from gritty subjects. I don't want to add more to give spoilers so I'll just say this - see it for the performances if you are a genuine fan of acting/theatre. The performances will stay with me for a long time.

A little life is a stage adaptation of the book of the same name, penned by Hanya Yanagihara, published in 2015 and has now gone on to sell over a million copies worldwide and received widespread critical acclaim. Originally when asked Hanya said that if the book was to be adapted for the screen she felt a mini series would be the best option, which makes sense considering the books lengthy 800 page length. That was until theatre director Ivo Van Hove purchased the rights to make a stage adaptation in 2017 with Hanya saying that she felt he was the right buyer as he would actually get to work on adapting the book rather than buying the rights and then letting it sit on a shelf.

Initially shown earlier in the year for a short run at both the Harold Pinter and Savoy theatres in London, the acclaimed book is now showing in cinemas around the country. Personally I'm only 100 pages into the book so that may be worth bearing in mind however I know how beloved the book and the characters within it are. I'm taking the book slowly for my own mental health but had to catch the play before it went out of cinemas. To keep it simple and spoiler free the play is about four lifelong friends living in New York. It's about their day to day lives but mostly follows Jude St Francis and the secrets he keeps around his upbringing and the effect these secrets have not only on him but also the people around him.

If you know anything about a little life and, due to the internet buzz that started about a year ago you've probably at least heard of it, then you likely know about its controversies. As I said I've only just started the book but I was shocked to see that it had been adapted for the stage due to its graphic and in depth nature around tough subjects such as child abuse, rape and self harm. After seeing the play for myself I'm unsure how I feel as in one sense the acting is phenomenal and I couldn't take my eyes off of the screen which is good as it does have a 3hr 40min runtime (including 15 minute interval). In the other sense however at times I did feel a need to look away and I was left at the end with an unsettled feeling. In the book I've only just got past the first self harm scene and it did make me feel a bit sick just reading it. I had a similar reaction here but was fortunately able to keep down the contents of my dinner. It's perhaps testament to the acting quality on show here particularly the performance by James Norton as Jude that I had the same response in the play as with the book in these scenes. I did however feel though and perhaps this is inevitable with any stage adaptation that it missed some of the details that the book has. Books of course are always going to be more in depth but with a story like this every detail is crucial to the story and due I imagine to the books length the play is fast passed and if you go to the toilet you will be lost when you return so I suggest waiting for the interval. Whilst this didn't affect the impact the play had on me overall I did miss a little bit of the context for certain scenes that the book contains.

The ending for me was also a bit contentious and whilst I can only presume how close an adaptation it is to the book it did leaving me feeling as I mentioned earlier uneasy. There's just no respite for the audience here, it's grim scene after grim scene and just when you think the characters may have found some solace more tragedy strikes and the play ends. Whilst I largely enjoy deep stories that deal with tough grim subjects, when your whole story is like that from start to finish it leaves the audience feeling shi**y and I think goes against the plays re-watchability. Whilst I'm sure there are some unfortunate people who's lives just keep getting worse and worse, I would like to think that there is at least hope for a better life and this play didn't give me that and by the end I needed it.

Apologies if I seem to have trashed the play in my review, I do however think it's the best adaption of the book that anyone could probably have done and the acting from James Norton alone should be seen especially if you've read any/all of the book. If you get a chance see this one for yourself and I'll look out for your review as I have no doubt this one will divide opinion.