Theatregoers hail London play The Years as ‘daring’ and ‘lovely’

A controversial new play that features scenes so graphic that some audience members have been left queasy has had the seal of approval from most fans. 

London‘s Almeida Theatre was forced to halt its showing of The Years for ten minutes earlier this week while queasy guests were given medical treatment.

Another male audience member shouted ‘disgrace’ during Monday night’s showing after claiming there were no prior warnings about its gruesome content.

But when MailOnline visited we found the audience were largely supportive – despite scenes which they admit are ‘visceral’ and ‘absolutely brutal’. 

Despite the fainting episode, most of the largely female audience were unfazed by the gory sight of stage and screen star Romola Garai acting out an attempted do-it-yourself termination with a knitting needle.

Eline Arbo’s play traces the evolution of women’s rights during Normandy-born Ms Ernaux’s lifetime, covering issues like the pill, abortion and divorce.

Monday’s fainting episode came during a special preview when a man in the front of the stalls indicated that he was feeling faint during Ms Garai’s abortion scene.

Other audience members called staff and he was taken outside to the bar, where he was joined by others left feeling ill.

Witnesses also claimed that another ticket-holder shouted from the circle that the scene ‘was a disgrace’ and claimed ‘there was no warning’.

But last night ticket-holders at the theatre in trendy Islington were equally unperturbed by the actor’s fake blood-smeared thighs at the end of the scene.

And the mostly-female audience giggled at the scenes of sex and masturbation during the two-hour portrait of French writer Annie Ernaux’s life.

Afterwards, they heaped praise on the production which opened this week and also features Bafta-winning Our Friends in the North star Gina McKee.

Hannah Saxby, 22, described the production as ‘visceral’, adding: ‘It was explicit but I thought it was powerful. I’d read the trigger warnings.

‘It’s interesting in that it’s rare to see women on stage being sexual with each other, especially of a certain age. I thought that was quite provocative in a good way.’

She said the story – which charts the Nobel Literature prize-winner’s life from the 1940s to the Millennium – left her feeling ‘engaged’.

Five different female actors play Ernaux – who is 83 and suffered a turbulent love life – at different ages from childhood to late middle-age.

Hannah added: ‘It made me think about my mum and my grandma and myself in a way that I don’t tend to reflect on in everyday life. It was sad, kind of.’

Her friend Joe explicit Flynn, 24, added: ‘In moments it was beautiful.

‘I liked how it was different actresses playing the same character, so I loved how they each got a go tell part of the story. In moments it was beautiful.

‘I thought it was really well done, it was really well made, I love the ending. I’m not too sure I got it all – but I don’t think that’s because I’m a man.’

Nathan Lwanga, 26, said: ‘At the beginning, I didn’t really understand what was happening.

‘Once I got into it I thought it was really well directed, well acted, quite life-affirming.

‘We saw this person go through life’s adversities, and all the craziness that was happening in the past, yet she still turned out pretty ok. I found that comforting as a concept.’

Asked if he would recommend it, he said: ‘Not to everybody, because it was quite graphic – but like to my peers, yeah.’

Bridgerton actor Florence Dobson and her director friend Helen Iley were in the audience to see another of their friends, Harmony Rose Bremner, perform in the play.

Harmony, daughter of Transporting star Ewen Bremner, completed the cast with fellow newcomer Anjli Mohindra and veteran Deborah Findlay.

Florence, 26, told MainOnline: ‘It’s experimental and daring and challenging.

‘You know some people are going to be alarmed or taken aback by it but I think that is personal to the truth of what is being shared.

‘I didn’t know what I was letting myself in for. Harmony is a dear friend and so she’s been very, very sort of NDA almost about it.

‘They’ve not been told not to say anything about it, but the magic of it needed to be held and nurtured in that space.

‘It feels like a time capsule and every decade that was experienced was necessary. It was very powerful to see and clever. There were moments of joy.’

Helen, 27 added: ‘It was so epic in a space that felt so intimate as well.

‘It meant you can find those relatable moments within the bigger scale of what was going on. It made it feel so profound yet so relatable.

‘Where it was more visceral was in the language rather than the visuals. I felt it was so well done. I found it so wonderfully raw and honest.’

Martin Burrows, 75, said: ‘I didn’t think the abortion scene was any more horrific than anything else I’d seen in the theatre.

‘I didn’t think it was happy or sad, but to somebody of my age, it was true to life and the feelings one have.

‘She doesn’t seem to like men. All the men in the play were just sexual beings. They didn’t seem to have any personality or character or function.’

But another audience member, who did not want to be named, said: ‘Yes, I enjoyed it, but yes, it was absolutely brutal.’

A theatre statement said: ‘The performance on Monday of The Years was stopped for 10 minutes so that our front of house team could provide care for an audience member who required assistance.

‘During the stoppage, care was also provided for three other audience members. All audience members were quick to recover after brief assistance.’

The statement added that warnings were in place on the Almeida website’s booking page, in pre-visit emails, and on the front of house signage.’