A Little Life

Might be a grower not a show-er [shallow]

No way would I see this, the book was bad enough. I know there’s a lot of abuse but why does he need to be naked so much?

Hardly a surprise though?

A friend went to see this this week and said it was three hours 40 mins and relentlessly miserable. He's on stage stark naked for most of it, and at the break she and her friend asked themselves what on earth they were doing watching it.

Also he has a tiny willy apparently. Which is disappointing.

Eeeek…great to see JN naked but way too depressing for me…I won’t be going but have just read about it, and seen the photos, in the Daily Mail this morning.

I loved the book and love JN but agree with the idea that it’s not the role for him. Having said that, he’s an excellent actor so will no doubt do an excellent job.
A definite yes to Robert Sheehan in the role, he is EXACTLY how I imagined Jude to look.
Equally, I don’t think I could hack seeing the high levels of abuse re-enacted on stage. Makes me wonder how exactly it will be portrayed.

I’ll look out for a cinema screening but holding out hope as prima facie was at Harold Pinter too and that’s on NT at home at the moment.
Looking forward to hearing the feedback from those who are going!

It’s at the Harold Pinter so won’t be on NT@Home but they may well have a cinema screening.

I love the book (I’m sure I shouldn’t but I do!) and would love to see the play but logistically it’s not going to happen.
Does anyone know what are the chances of it being screened on ‘national theatre at home’ ?

I can concentrate on that then if I hate it!

A colleague was telling me that he is diabetic (I think this intel came from Graham Norton where he was plugging the play), so they’ve incorporated sweets dotted around the set for him, which I now feel like I’m going to spend an inordinate amount of concentration looking for.

I'm going in May, really looking forward to watching James Norton on stage although at almost four hours it could be a challenge! Am reading the book at the moment, hoping to get it finished before the show, better get a shift on, I'm not even 100 pages in yet!

Was considering seeing it myself but I’m trying so hard not to hate watch stuff at the moment 😂 but if the tickets were cheaper I probably would have gone just to see how on earth they’ve adapted it.

@OlleOskiFelle

Ooooh, please do remember to report back! I’d love to hear how they interpreted it onto the stage and how they depicted Jude’s levels of amazing brilliance without being annoying or ridiculous.

Ha @OlleOskiFelle best of luck. I’m going for the last show. I’ve been to a few final shows over the years and there is something euphoric and crazy adrenaline by the end. This is ambitious, but I hope that you have a fab time. Theatre is a different medium to a book isn’t it, so you might find something different in it.

Oh heck! If you hated the book I think you’re brave to say the least 😂

let us know!

I hated the book but I'm going to see the play because um, I'm insane?
Ha, no, I've never seen a West end play before, I know the story and I know who JN is so I thought I'd give it a go, it was a fairly cheap ticket anyway.
I'll report back in April.

It was the most depressing book ever. I hated it

Oh jesus, I didn't know they were adapting it to the stage. Even reading the book was harrowing, I can't imagine being able to watch the scenes of Jude's childhood, or his self harming. It'll be a tricky balance between not being horrifically visceral and also not doing the stage equivalent of 'cut to crashing waves'. I'll look out for reviews with interest to see how they handle it, but experiencing that story once in a lifetime was sufficient for me!

Also James Norton is very much what I'd have pictured Willem to look like. Jude for me would be more of a Tom Holland or Eddie Redmayne look.

And I know a lot of the criticisms are based on the miserably dark subject matter, but I dislike that because it implies if you criticise it you just can’t cope with difficult topics. But I didn’t find it too dark - I found it incredibly repetitive and poorly plotted, with really weak characterization, characters who didn’t develop in any way, and generally really unrealistic dialogue and plot points. The whole thing read (to me) like an amateur and not particularly talented or capable fanfiction writer’s ‘whump’ fiction.

I saw the play advertised. To be honest I thought the book was absolutely awful, really terrible. I only persevered because it was recommended by a friend of mine. But when I saw the play advertised I did wonder how it would work on stage. There’s only so many times an actor can pretend to cut themselves, then say ‘I’m sorry Willem.’ And the fawning over Jude would be sickening in real time. How will they express how good looking, insanely intelligent, proficient in music, and tragically fantastically amazing he is if he’s just payed by a regular human being?

I totally agree - it was just ridiculous by the end.
Yes to Robert Sheehan as Jude. Maybe Ben Whishaw?