Eline Arbo’s production of The Years at London’s Almeida Theatre is a rare triumph. First adapted into Dutch and premiered in Amsterdam in 2022, the play breathes theatrical life into the Nobel-winning writer Annie Ernaux’s masterpiece of the same name, delineating a composite portrait of a woman and a culture over seven decades. This audacious translation to the stage of a complex work of literature represents a considerable feat of dramaturgical vision and sensitivity.
The Years, first published in 2008, is not an obvious candidate for theatrical adaptation. A unique blend of memoir and sociology, the book retraces the stages of Ernaux’s life, embedding personal experiences within the larger context of French history.
The book features no dialogue, and unfolds predominantly in brisk declarative sentences. Moreover, it is dense with references to the cultural and social minutiae of 20th- and early 21st-century France, as it catalogues the nation’s favourite foods, clothes, films, labour-saving devices and public intellectuals.
