A Little Life BAM ... Also London 2023 — Page 2

Does anyone know why Row A is shown as partial view? Thanks

Just booked a fantastic seat for A Little Life.

TotallyEffed said: "Just booked a fantastic seat for A Little Life."

I have zero knowledge of this production. Do you have any suggestions on the seat location?

In true Van Hove fashion, A Little Life features video projection on both sides of the stage. The video footage is projected on walls that are perpendicular to the audience. Based on where the partial seats are I assume you'll only be able to see one of of those video projection walls from those seats.

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought Next Wave Festival was supposed to be accessible "edgy" theatre programming. These prices are insane, especially when 50% of the seats are partial view. I only looked at A Little Life and Hamlet though.

Found the full recording online, and here's a screenshot that shows the 2 video screens that probably contribute to the partial view designation of the side seats:

verywellthensigh said: "We get to see the cutting up close on video????

Whoa, man. The EDGE! This looks to be even more sensationalistic and empty than the vile novel it's based on."

It's really not.

Yes, the seats are literally on the stage; what's misleading about calling them that, and where would you expect them to be?

Kad said: "A Little Life is one of the least enjoyable reading experiences I’ve ever had. Yanagihara puts her paper-doll characters through such physical and emotional trauma that it borders on sadism and torture porn. She makes the Old Testament seem light in comparison. And that’s to say nothing of its frankly bizarre take on sexuality. It doesn’t surprise me that a stage adaptation is likewise brutal.
"

Totally agree. This is a story I don’t need to experience again. Let alone in Dutch lol

Kad said: "A Little Life is one of the least enjoyable reading experiences I’ve ever had. Yanagihara puts her paper-doll characters through such physical and emotional trauma that it borders on sadism and torture porn. She makes the Old Testament seem light in comparison. And that’s to say nothing of its frankly bizarre take on sexuality. It doesn’t surprise me that a stage adaptation is likewise brutal.



"

@Kad. I just finished the book in preparation for the play in October and have to disagree with your assessment. For one, I don’t think paper-doll characterization is appropriate for at least several of the well-drawn characters Yanagihara created: not least of which Jude, Willem, JD, and yes, even Harold.

Would I have picked this book up with even a brief description of what’s inside, probably not. But I was quite moved throughout by the vacillation between pure pleasure and utter cruelty. Could I have done less of the latter: certainly yes. While not torture porn or sadism, I think her point was made within 100 pages on that subject and perhaps didn’t require some 300 additional pages to make that point. Or perhaps it was: I don’t know if I would be so affected if not for the constant reminder of pain.

This book was not a pleasure to get through, but it was oftentimes quite gorgeous. The male relationships Yanagihara creates are so much more meaningful than those Lopez created in The Inheritance, who seems to have taken some inspiration from this book. More importantly, I don’t know, and may never have known, a person who inhabits Jude’s mentality. Having seen that person is important.

I’ll be at BAM for one of the last performances and really hope Van Hove nails this material: I really can’t think of a better director who could.

Really interested to hear about subtitles in regards to seating. I don’t want to be straining to read subtitles for over four hours.

Going on Friday. Excited and nervous. It is probably my favorite book and I still cry just talking about it. It is one of the few pieces of art that has ever had that profound impact on me and I’m honestly just scared to “go there” again, if that makes sense.