For many, Annie Ernaux has only truly achieved prominence since becoming the first Frenchwoman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2022, at the tender age of 82. Her writing style deploys an awareness of self which resonates truth and simplicity through the unflinching and visceral description of events experienced and the times in which they occurred. In THE YEARS (which is an English adaptation by Stephanie Bain, based on Director Eline Arbo’s Dutch translation of Les années) a cast of five women take us on a journey of the author’s life from 1941-2006… and what an incredible journey it proves to be.
Romola Garai, Gina McKee, Deborah Findlay, Harmony Rose-Bremner and Anjli Mohindra in The Years at Harold Pinter Theatre. Credit Helen Murray.