The Years at the Almeida Theatre review: there's so much to love in this startling and enthralling show

Frankly, I never expected to see Gina McKee enthusiastically humping Romola Garai, fully clothed, on an office chair, while shouting about an idea for a book. But this turns out to be one of the least startling aspects of Eline Arbo’s enthralling stage adaptation of Nobel Laureate Annie Ernaux’s 2008 novel, which filters seven decades of world history through a French, female lens and a fictionalised version of her own life. With minor reservations, I absolutely loved this.

There’s much here that’s still unusual in theatre. A female perspective. Frank depictions of masturbation and abortion – the former hilarious, the latter harrowing. A narrative that embraces geopolitics, social change, technological advance and the arc of a life from infancy to grandmotherhood.