A Little Life (West End) London Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (144)
See it if Great acting, interesting staging
Don't see it if Unremittingly harrowing and depressing, very long, did not help I couldn't see a damn thing up to the first interval, after which I moved.
See it if (I can’t score it higher because it’s not as good as the ITA version in Amsterdam)
Don't see it if you are afraid of real emotions and can’t emphasize with other experience
See it if You’ve read the book before going to see the show
Don't see it if You’re not wanting to cry
See it if You like challenging material, focusing on difficult subjects.
Don't see it if You struggle with seeing difficult subjects played out on stage.
See it if you have a strong mind and you enjoy a long, detailed plays with harrowing plots and in depth characters played by talented actors
Don't see it if you have any triggers regarding self harm, sexual assault, abuse, suicide, blood etc because all of these are VERY visually shown repeatedly
See it if you want to see some brilliant acting covering really difficult topics, and if you liked the book.
Don't see it if the topics are too triggering, or you don’t want anything too graphic
See it if you want to watch a challenging adaptation from difficult source material
Don't see it if you can't watch a 3 hour show about abuse, self harm, depression, and suicide
See it if You've read the book! Otherwise, it's not an easy piece of theatre but it's a unique experience and the acting and staging - incredible!!
Don't see it if You are squeamish, sensitive or not ready to be SAD. There is a fair bit of fake blood, nudity and sexual abuse shown graphically on stage.
Critic Reviews (13)
"The play it's certain to divide both audiences and critics: its effect ultimately depends on what one looks for. It's only a shadow of the book, but, realistically, this is probably the best adaptation fans and sceptics will get.”
Read more
“I still can’t decide if ‘A Little Life’ is a work of great empathy, great voyeurism or some conflation of the two. But it’s been staged here with consummate skill and Norton’s astonishing performance puts him into the top rank.”
Read more
“I can’t help but think ‘A Little Life’ is probably essentially meaningless, a horrible story told for the thrill of telling a horrible story, its nihilism ultimately sophomoric and unserious. Brilliant acting, great direction, but at heart it’s simply an empty vision of despair.”
Read more
“There is something heroic in the staging of this story in the West End: resolutely bleak with no catharsis and cyclical violence, it is an almost anthropological study of pain.”
Read more
“...here’s my content warning: the exposition-heavy script is as overstated as the accompanying string music – a little less of it, in fact a lot less of it, would help.”
Read more
“The play, inevitably can only deliver a precis of a book that sprawls over some 700 pages...A stylishly mounted, second-rate melodrama.”
Read more
“I felt I had witnessed a terrible, truthful depiction of the ongoing effects of mankind’s capacity for cruelty. I still wondered why I would want to delve so deep, but there is no doubting the production’s power – or the belief and excellence of all the actors.”
Read more
“Just witnessing it tests our endurance too; Norton’s is, though, an astonishing performance in a production that leaves its mark like a livid, tender bruise on the imagination.”
Read more