Hanya Yanagihara’s ‘A Little Life’ – the story of four superficially successful male friends with bleak pasts and even bleaker futures – is a traumatic phenomenon, having sold two-and-half-million copies globally.
Despite its success, Yanagihara’s attempts to get it turned into a TV show have hit a brick wall, as apparently it’s simply too dark for any network to pick up (it would be a bit spoilery to get into specifics, but we’re talking rape, self-harm, drug abuse…).
However, you can always rely on theatre not to sugarcoat it, and thus it was that Belgium super director Ivo van Hove came to collaborate with Yanagihara on a 2018 Dutch stage version, which a limited UK audience got to see last year when it played a handful of dates at the Edinburgh International Festival.
Next year, however, Van Hove’s ‘A Little Life’ makes its debut in English, in a production headed up by telly star James Norton as the story’s deeply troubled central character, Jude, along with Luke Thompson (Willem), Omari Douglas (JB), Zach Wyatt (Malcolm).
Despite the novel’s success and the pedigree of its cast and director, it still feels like a pretty daring show to bring to the West End for several months – not least because the Dutch version was four hours long, and the 7pm evening start time (half an hour earlier than normal) suggests we’re in for a long one – but hopefully a good one.
‘A Little Life’ is at the Harold Pinter Theatre, Mar 25-Jun 18 2023, with a warm-up week at Richmond Theatre March 14-18.
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