A Little Life - Richmond/Harold Pinter/Savoy/ Cinema

Here is the part about timing from the email I received the day before, and this was pretty strictly adhered to:

"Please then make sure you are at the front of the theatre outside the Box Office entrance for 6:30pm. A member of our Front of House staff will then escort you and the other onstage customers to your seats. Please do make sure that you are at this meeting point for 6:30pm to be taken through. No customers will be admitted after the pre-show starts at 6:50pm."

It's also worth noting you only get 10 minutes for the interval before you have to be back in formation to be taken back on the stage.

I would definitely recommend reading the book or listening to the audiobook before hand - I'm really glad I did.  

There are no gun shots but there is one part in the second act where the character of Willem walks towards the back of the stage and turns on some music which comes on very suddenly and is very loud and made me really jump both times it happened.

This is the same in the book - everyone loves Jude but why, nobody knows. And all the characters are very two dimensional. 

Which I don’t think comes across strongly in the play. I love the book and the character in the book. I thought Jude had been rendered fairly one dimensional in the stage production (albeit acted incredibly well by James)

The stage seating sounds fantastic, albeit not for the faint hearted - thanks for the account, jamb0r! Sounds like it’s the sort of thing you’d need to set half a day aside for all in all…!

Re, the characters - I would argue that the book does allude to reasons why Willem and, to a lesser extent, Harold/Julia are so drawn to Jude. That said, and admittedly without having yet seen this play, I can’t see how it’d explore that in any great depth without getting too sidetracked from its chosen narrative focus, ie. Jude. This is one of the reasons why I think stage/screen adaptations of novels can be so difficult. But I’m still very keen to see how they attempt it!

The article has been published online with a handful of photos from throughout the show, mainly when Jude is naked. Definitely look like photos from a phone to me. A quick Google seems to suggest that the person who took them takes paparazzi style photos for the DM and other tabloids.

Is it not illegal to take (let alone publish) naked photos of people without their consent nowadays?

Didn’t read it, mostly looks like one of those ‘articles’ where the author just transcribes stuff they’ve seen on twitter, but this bit stood out:

At least they’re honest.

I guess they’ll be making the whole audience use those phone pouch thingies going forward.

I don’t think there is anything they can do, and I’m guessing they must have been half expecting this to happen despite best efforts.

Have to say James Norton’s performance has really stayed with me, despite my reservations about the play overall. Certain scenes and moments keep popping into my head. I’m off to see something else this evening so kind of hoping that will replace it!

I saw the play in Richmond, having very much looked forward to it. Thanks as always to posters who gave early warning of booking.

There was a palpable sense of excitement as “event” theatre with a very different audience profile to usual, and we had great seats behind the string quartet row C. The music really added to the atmosphere of this production.

I have not read the book, so can only go by what was on stage.

James Norton was absolutely committed and I cannot find fault in his performance, which reminded me of his character in Bug at Found 111. Luke Thompson as Willem was also excellent, as well as Elliott Cowan convincing as Father Luke and other “bad” characters, and Zubin Varla did some of the heavy lifting as Harold. I thought Nathalie Armin was fine as the social worker/Greek chorus in attempting to bring more nuance to the thoughts of Jude. Is she in the book much as a narrator?

My main issue is the lack of nuance in the production. I do not know if this is down to Hanya Yanagihara or, I suspect (based on comments here), the concept and adaptation by Ivo Van Hove. Any lighter moments were fleeting, and the repeated violence and abuse became repetitive, even though they gathered some momentum the second or third time. There was no way out from the repetition and echoes of the past. No light and shade, no redemption. I realise this might be part of the point of this book, but where the director has referred to the love of Harold and his friends for Jude in interviews, I felt this was overwhelmed by the shock factor and violence here.

Whilst I had sympathy for Jude, the cumulative effect for me was a lack of any empathy with his character. I felt that the direction pushed this to where he was akin to a lab rat being abused continually. Does this reflect the book?

I have no idea why I thought of it whilst watching, since I never saw Cleansed by Sarah Kane (director Katie Mitchell at the NT), but the torture and self torture here became like a horror show. The press coverage has reflected some of this. I felt that this distancing from Jude did not serve the production well.

I’ve enjoyed up to a certain extent various Van Hove productions - but the situations become so extreme - Ruth Wilson’s jealousy in Hedda Gabbler, Jude Law’s obsession in..Obsession, and recent Hans Kesting’s injustice and blame in Who Killed My Father. More akin to Greek tragedies, so this production was at least inconsistent in the shame and self hatred Jude felt. But being stretched out to 3hr 40m with the story arc being oddly constricted here despite the running time.

The set was as expected - not sure what the projections added other than going “snowy” in certain (I won’t divulge) scenes. An on stage kitchen again (like Network). Did not see anyone eating though, even in the cast (except a birthday cake).

It was intense and my concentration never dropped. James Norton and Luke Thompson were excellent. Yes, it is “event” theatre and people should see it, but overall I felt disappointed. 4 stars for the actors, 3 for the production.

PS No material flubbed lines or show stops. Just a technician walking on for a quick whisper into James Norton’s ear in his final scene (not sure why).

PPS Ended 1045pm. The interval was unusual as lights came on slightly unexpectedly and people started moving at the back. No applause at that point, but full standing ovation at end.

Far more happens in the book and we experience more fully fleshed out characters that change and develop as they age from college friends into adulthood. The chapters rotate emphasis among the different characters and Jude's trauma is interspersed, whereas the play centers it.

I did think several times there were elements of passion play as his disciples/angels carried him to the bed. So it could definitely be seen that way too.

The passion play / Greek tragedy does fix the main issue I had with the play, I just couldn’t figure out the devotion of his friends as Jude (understandably) is not someone who would naturally induce this level of friendship.(maybe more developed in the book especially the redemption throug trust which Jude eludes to towards the end of the play)

For the play itself I am with stevemar “4 stars for the actors, 3 for the production” James Norton manages to keep you engaged through all the tribulations, on the whole am happy to have seen the play but the book can stay in the library.

I read an article today that led me to believe it may be because of his diabetes. Given the length of the play they are monitoring his blood sugar off stage with glucose etc stashed around the stage in case he needs it. But if there is an issue they will need to tell him presumably. Better option would be to fit him with an ear piece and tell him that way so he can take whatever he needs. It’s unkilely to be a hyper given the amount of energy he will be expelling on stage but he would still want to manage the hypos.