By James Murphy
Ivo Van Hove and Internationaal Theater Amsterdam’s adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s devastating debut novel A Little Life is a remarkable feat: three and a half hours, yet entirely gripping; performed in Dutch, yet every word hits as hard as in English; and, most importantly, its overwhelming brutality serves an essential purpose: to serve as a reminder that life can be, and often is, needlessly brutal, that all that doesn’t kill you doesn’t necessarily make you stronger but can rather kill you eventually, that sometimes early traumas can so mould the brain, so construct an inner monologue, that no amount of love or currently available medical interventions can repair the damage, and that, given the often life altering consequences of cruelty, we should always endeavour to be kind.
A Little Lifeaudiences enter the Adelaide Entertainment Center Theater and sit on either side of Ivo Van Hove’s stage; on each wall, New York streetscapes are projected, while each corner is partitioned for one Yanagihara’s characters: on one side, there’s figurative painter JB’s (Daniël ‘t Hoen) studio loft and Malcolm’s (Edwin Jonker) architecture office, in the middle, sits lawyer and central character Jude’s (Ramsey Nasr) bathroom sink, where he attaches a razor blade and alcohol wipes to self-harm, and his housemate, actor Willem’s (Maarten Heijmans) rehearsal room, while on the other side is Jude’s former law professor and adopted father Harold’s (Steven Van Watermeulen) kitchen and Andy’s (Bart Slegers) doctor’s surgery, where he treats Jude’s myriad wounds. Jude’s past abusers and counsellors, played by Hans Kesting and Marieke Heebink, do not have designated spaces on the stage, as their residence is within Jude’s mind; they are intrusive thoughts, PTSD flashbacks who menacingly drift in and out.
The meticulous efficiency of the staging is mirrored in all aspects of the production; transitions between scenes are seamless, Yangihara’s 700 plus pages of text are trimmed to the essentials. While the novel explores the friendship of the four university friends, JB, Malcolm, Jude and Willem, across thirty years, the stage production, out of necessity, hones in on Jude, leaving JB and Malcolm as peripheral, comparatively minor characters. Each of Yanighara’s characters grew up with contrasting parental environments and then experienced differing life outcomes. Van Hove, though, by applying the magnifying glass to Jude’s early life traumas, more than sufficiently conveys the work’s essential point: adverse early childhood experiences can irreparably damage, unleash coping mechanisms like dissociation, self-harm and self-loathing.
Poet and actor Nasr, as Jude, literally and figuratively bares all in his award winning performance, whether it be while singing Mahler lieder or while enduring horrific harms. ‘t Hoen, remarkably, steps into the role of JB at last moment following a medical emergency sent that sent the original cast member home, while Heijmans and Steven Van Watermeulen shine as the lights in Jude’s life and Hans Kesting is ferociously and terrifyingly menacing as the various abusers. Live strings from BL!NDMAN, mixed with tracks from Nine Inch Nails and The Arcade Fire soundtrack the harrowing ride. A Little Life is not a show for the faint of heart but it can and should expand the heart; it offers a window into the lives of those who have endured the unimaginable and the tragedy wrought on all those who surround them, who try to lift them out of the darkness, but who cannot.
Five stars
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