The Years
Directed by Eline Arbo, Adapted as De jaren by Eline Arbo, in an English version by Stephanie Bain, Based on Les Années by Annie Ernaux
Event details
Sat 27 Jul - Sat 31 Aug 2024
The Years transfers to the Harold Pinter Theatre in Jan 2025. The Years: West End >
★★★★★
The Guardian, Financial Times, Independent, The i, The Stage
Five different actors bring one woman’s personal and political story to life, set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing post-war Europe.
Memory never stops. It pairs the dead with the living, real with imaginary beings, dreams with history.
She strikes a pose and the camera shutter clicks:
A child playing in the debris of the Second World War. Click. A student discovering parties and men’s bodies. Click. An activist fighting for the right to choose. Click. A wife picking out a velvet sofa. Click. A mother taking her eldest to judo. Click. A lover seducing a younger man. Click. A grandmother presenting her granddaughter to the camera. Click
Internationaal Theater Amsterdam’s new Artistic Director Eline Arbo directs her inventive stage adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux’s critically acclaimed “masterpiece” (The Guardian) The Years.
The original production and adaptation of The Years was first produced as De Jaren by Het Nationale Theater in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2022. Special thanks to Wouter van Ransbeek.
Running Time Approx. 1 hour & 55 mins, no interval
Subject to change during previews.
Evenings 7.30pm
Matinees 2.30pm
Access Performances
Book our access performances by calling Box Office on 020 7359 4404 or email boxoffice@almeida.co.uk.
Audio Described Sat 24 Aug 2.30pm (Touch Tour 12.30pm)
Captioned Tue 20 Aug 7.30pm
Relaxed Environment Wed 21 Aug 2.30pm & 7.30pm
Content Warnings Read more about our production guidance and warnings>
The Years: West End
Following a ★★★★★ sold-out run at the Almeida, The Years transfers to the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End from January 2025.
reviews
Cast & Creatives
-
Cast
Deborah Findlay
Romola Garai
Gina McKee
Anjli Mohindra
Harmony Rose-Bremner
-
Creatives
Eline Arbo
Director and Adapter
Stephanie Bain
English Adapter
Annie Ernaux
Original Book Writer
Tanya Leslie and Alison L. Strayer
Translators
Thijs van Vuure
Music Supervisor and Sound Designer
Juul Dekker
Set Designer
Rebekka Wörmann
Costume Designer
Varja Klosse
Lighting Designer
Yarit DorYarit Dor
Intimacy Director
Yarit Dor
Yarit is a multidisciplinary creative working as a Fight Director, IDC Certified Intimacy Director and Movement Director. She is co-director of Moving Body Arts and an Ensemble Associate Artist of The Shakespeare’s Globe. In 2019 she originated the role of the Intimacy Director in the West End and recently she’s been awarded a Fellow of Rose Bruford College.
For the Almeida: The Years;“Daddy” A Melodrama.
Theatre includes: Why Am I So Single; Hamilton; The Shark Is Broken (West End); Hadestown (West End/ National Theatre); A Strange Loop (Barbican); Death Of A Salesman (West End/ Young Vic); Rockets and Blue Lights (National Theatre); Othello; Henry V; The Merchant of Venice; Richard II; Hamlet; As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Band’s Visit, Love & Other Acts Of Violence (Donmar Warehouse); The Homecoming; The Second Woman; Changing Destiny (Young Vic); A View From The Bridge (Headlong); This Is Not Who I Am (Royal Court); Old Bridge (Bush Theatre).
Film includes: Wicked.
Television includes: Daisy Jones and The Six; Mood; The Rings of Power.
Dance includes: Weather Is Sweet; Death Trap; Peaky Blinders (Rambert Dance Company); The Burnt City (Punchdrunk).
Amy Ball CDGAmy Ball CDG
Casting Director
Amy Ball CDG
For the Almeida: The Years; Alma Mater; Cold War; Portia Coughlan; Women, Beware the Devil; “Daddy” A Melodrama; Albion; The Hunt; Shipwreck; Dance Nation; Boy.
Theatre includes: Hamnet (RSC); Lyonesse; The Hills of California; Jerusalem; Leopoldstadt; Uncle Vanya; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; The Night of Iguana; Rosmersholm; True West; The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?; The Pillowman (West End); The Son (Kiln Theatre/ West End); Sweat (Donmar Warehouse/ West End); The Ferryman (Royal Court/ Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre/ West End); The Moderate Soprano (Hampstead Theatre/ West End); The Birthday Party; Consent (National Theatre/ West End); Hangmen (Royal Court/ West End/ Atlantic Theater Company); Berberian Sound Studio (Donmar Warehouse); Stories; Exit the King (National Theatre); White Noise; A Very Very Very Dark Matter (Bridge Theatre); The Brothers Size (Young Vic); Maryland; ear for eye; Girls & Boys; Cyprus Avenue (Royal Court).
Heidi Bryan
Costume Supervisor
Sophia Khan
Wigs, Hair and Make Up Supervisor
Matt Smith
Vocal Coach
Fabien EnjalricFabien Enjalric
Dialect Coach
Fabien Enjalric
Originally from Paris, Fabien is a language and accent coach based in London who specialises in coaching for film, television and theatre. Passionate about languages, he holds a BA in Eastern European studies and is fluent in French, Russian and Italian, as well as conversational in Spanish, German and Swedish.
Fabien has worked on numerous projects with some well-known names in the industry including Dame Helen Mirren, Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, Charlotte Rampling, Margot Robbie, Jenna Coleman, Chris Pine and Samuel L. Jackson among others.
Theatre includes: Henry V; Force Majeure; Belleville (Donmar Warehouse); Life of Pi (Sheffield Theatres).
Film includes: Dune; All the Old Knives; Wonder Woman; The King; Hotel Mumbai; Mary Queen of Scots; Justice League; The Hundred Foot Journey; Tetris; SAS: Red Notice; The Spy Who Dumped Me; Adam Jones.
Television includes: The Crown; Litvinenko; A Spy Amongst Friends; The Boys; Slow Horses; Half Bad; The Confessions of Frannie Langton; The Serpent; Dracula; Gomorrah; Silent Witness; Strike Back; Secret Invasion; Hanna; SAS Rogue Heroes; Baptiste.
Yasmin Hafesji
Associate Director
Access Performances
Audio Described Sat 24 Aug 2.30pm (Touch Tour 12.30pm)
Captioned Tue 20 Aug 7.30pm
Relaxed Environment Wed 21 Aug 2.30pm & 7.30pm
For full information about how to book for our access performances please visit our Access For All Page.
Supporters
The Years is supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Concessions
All concession tickets are limited and subject to availability. Proof of eligibility is required. Concessions in the final week of performances are only valid for Deaf and disabled bookings. More info
Deaf and disabled patrons and a companion can buy discounted tickets by calling the Box Office on 020 7359 4404 or email boxoffice@almeida.co.uk.
£5 tickets will be available to those aged 25 and under for performances from Sat 27 – Wed 31 Jul, Fri 2 Aug & Sat 3 Aug 2.30pm performance. Enter code 25UNDER when selecting your seats. Tickets go on sale at 5pm on Thu 4 Jul. More info
If you are aged 30 or under, over 65 or are unemployed you can book tickets at a discounted rate. Not applicable on Fri or Sat evenings.
If you live or work in the Islington area you can book best available seats for £25 for performances from Sat 27 – Wed 31 Jul & Fri 2 Aug, subject to availability. Enter promo code ISFIRST when selecting your seats. Find applicable postcodes here.
Talks & Events
Talkback
After Mon 5 Aug performance
A post-show talk with members of the company. Free to same-day ticket holders.
Almeida For Free
Thu 22 Aug 7.30pm
A free performance for those aged 25 and under. More info.
You might also like…
Artwork photography by Zeinab Batchelor. Concept by Studio Doug.