★★★★✰
Content warning: this review contains mentions of sexual assault and self harm. Support regarding sexual assault can be found here, while support and information about self harm can be found on Mind’s website.
When I discovered that Hanya Yanagihara’s traumatising, beautiful novel A Little Life was being adapted into a theatre production, I was a little hesitant. How would a story that is riddled with vivid descriptions of graphic violence and sexual assault be translated to the stage? But Ivo van Hove’s adaptation does a great job of conveying the meaty, heart wrenching tale into an equally disturbing and beautiful show. The show first hit the Dutch stages in 2018 by theatre company Toneelgroep Amsterdam, where Ivo van Hove worked on the script in partnership with Hanya Yanagihara. Its success led to it being translated and brought over to the UK.
The book feels like we’re looking through a window into the life of Jude and his friends, and that is exactly what the stage production has mirrored. Jan Versweyveld’s set is hugged by two large screens that show rolling clips of New York city streets to emulate the rest of the world flowing by as we look in on this microcosm. The characters rarely leave the stage, a successful dramatic choice to create an immersive show.
The dramatic choices do not not shy away from portraying the agony of the novel, through prosthetics allowing Jude (James Norton) to self harm and spurt blood all over the stage, to depicting the violent, sexual assault scenes in stark nudity.
These little details really add to the character of the show, from Malcolm (Zach Wyatt) and JB’s (Omari Douglas) artwork and models mounting up as the show goes on, to Jude’s shirt slowly being covered with more blood until both he and the other characters are covered in his pain, both physically and metaphorically. Even the rising smell of Dettol which grows as the characters clean up after Jude and his self harming really adds to the experience. But I feel these made such an impact on me as I had on-stage seating, and I’m not sure the theatregoers at the back would have noticed these small details.
Norton as Jude and Thompson as Willem have an onstage pairing that is completely mesmerising, and depicts the intricacies of love, friendship and pain, and Zubin Varla as Harold, did an absolutely astounding performance of a father trying to help a son who refuses to accept it. There are many times throughout where two scenes are happening in tandem, and Harold is compared to the various abusers from Jude’s past, a clever tactic to show Jude’s mental turmoil.
The book itself caused controversy: it has been labelled as “torture porn” and many feel that the bleak and not cathartic story is too far fetched and depressing to have the intended impact. For those who felt this way, the stage show may have the same effect, as the entire plot is essentially how much pain can a single person suffer before they snap. It’s shocking and graphic, and can be seen as reinforcing the idea that an abused child is unable to move on from pain, circling the same, self-deprecating habits and suffering into adulthood.
The agony begins from the start, as in the first 10 minutes, Jude has already self harmed, and from then on it’s a spiral of blood, sexual abuse, screaming, and pain. The only respite is the beginning of the second act where we learn more about Willem who Thompson depicts in an energetic and puppy-like way, showing Jude that even his darkest parts are able to be loved by someone. But this escape is short lived as we are thrown back into more blood and tears.
All in all, A Little Life was a success for me. I’ll admit, the on-stage seating and lore from having read the book added to the experience, but the performances, along with clever staging and immersive dramatic choices create a raw and painful depiction of love and loss, and the elasticity of the human soul.
A Little Life will be performed at the Savoy Theatre until 5 August.
Words by Panayiota Demosthenous
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.