A Little Life comes to the West End
James Norton, Luke Thompson, Omari Douglas and Zach Wyatt will play Jude, Willem, JB and Malcolm, as Hanya Yanagihara's million-copy bestseller has its English language world stage premiere in London next year.
The stage adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s critically acclaimed prize-winning novel, A Little Life, directed by Ivo van Hove, is coming to the West End in March 2023, in its first English-language performances (having previously been staged in Dutch). Following previews at Richmond Theatre, the play opens at the Harold Pinter Theatre on 30 March and will run until 18 June.
The cast features James Norton as Jude, Luke Thompson as Willem, Omari Douglas as JB and Zach Wyatt as Malcolm, alongside Elliot Cowan (Brother Luke/Doctor Traylor/Caleb), Zubin Varla (Harold), Nathalie Armin (Ana), and Emilio Doorgasingh (Andy).
A Little Life follows four college friends in New York City: aspiring actor Willem, successful architect Malcolm, struggling artist JB, and prodigious lawyer Jude. As ambition, addiction, and pride threaten to pull the group apart, they always find themselves bound by their love for Jude and the mysteries of his past. But when those secrets come to light, they finally learn that to know Jude St Francis is to understand the limitless potential of love in the face of life.
‘One of the greatest, most unexpected joys and honours in my life has been watching as more readers than I could ever have imagined have taken A Little Life and its characters into their hearts over the past seven years. One of those readers was the visionary Ivo van Hove, and I’m thrilled he’s bringing his interpretation of the book to London next spring, with the most extraordinary cast I could have hoped for. This is a singular production, unlike anything I’ve seen before on stage; I hope audiences will be as transported and astonished as I was.’
Hanya Yanagihara
‘It’s a joy to be returning to the London stage, to a community that has made us feel so welcome, and especially to be bringing Hanya’s incredible novel A Little Life to the stage in the English language for the first time – quite genuinely a dream come true. I’m looking forward to beginning rehearsals with this extraordinary and committed group of actors to reveal the work afresh for audiences from across the UK.’
Ivo van Hove
Tickets are available now via ATG and there's more information at alittlelifeplay.com
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
Four young graduates from a Massachusetts college make their way to New York, with no money or contacts, just their ambition and their friendship with each other. Kind and attractive Willem is trying to make it as an actor, sharp and edgy JB wants to enter the art world, Malcolm is a struggling architect, and reclusive brilliant Jude is their centre of gravity. Over the coming years, their relationships shift, with addiction, achievement and pride playing their part. And the others come to realise that Jude, who has a brilliant career as a litigator, is in crisis, as unspeakable childhood trauma threatens to break him.
To Paradise
by Hanya Yanagihara
Hanya Yanagihara's latest novel comes out in paperback in January. This powerful and symphonic vision of America's past and present weaves three stories together with recurring notes and deepening themes.
In 1893, New York is part of the Free States, and a gentle young member of a privileged family falls for a charismatic and impoverished music teacher. In 1993, Manhattan is being swept by the AIDS epidemic, and a young Hawaiian man with a wealthy older partner must hide his difficult family background. And in 2093, in a world where plague and totalitarian rule is rife, a young woman tries to solve the mystery of her husband's disappearance.