The Years - Almeida / Harold Pinter

To feel emotional seeing a play isn't a bad thing per se (after all Catharsis was once thought to be the goal of drama) and to feel ill when seeig a play is sometimes unavoidable. I loved Death of a Salesman at the Young Vic which touched me in a very personal way and I was in floods of tears at the end. Fine. Once I had to leave a show because a combination of something I had eaten and the heat in the auditorium meant I thought I might be ill. Life happens. But in both cases, it was quiet and didn't impact the show. A couple of times, I have been in the theatre when someone became very ill, fainted or had a heart attack - again this obviously can't be helped and is far more distressing for those who have fallen ill, than the rest of the audience.

But to have a spate of people who feel so emotional seeing a play about which they have been warned that they need medical help and the show has to be stopped is quite unusual. Is it that it's a woman describing a particular experience tied to her womanhood which causes upset?

I am sure it is right that the theatre has their trigger warnings (in fact, when I saw them, I discussed with my companion if they still wanted to see The Years and they didn't, so I returned that ticket - it was resold within 3 minutes), but I also wonder if somehow this has built up a tension around that one scene that might not exist to that extent otherwise. Funnily enough, when I was watching the play, I thought the masturbation scenes might have caused my missing companion as much anxiety as the controversial scene.

Transferring in January is the word on the street.

It’s going into the Coward.

So so glad this is transferring so I can see it.

Crossing my fingers the original cast transfer with it especially Romola.

Giant also having a WE run