You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
“It's trauma porn!” a book-club friend shouted across the table, whilst I argued, “It's the most compelling account of self-harm I have come across!”
The stage adaptation of the novel A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (2016), directed by Ivo Van Hove, sparked a similar split amongst audiences. Whilst some found it a pointless portrayal of human suffering, others considered it a triumph, depicting the horrific impact of childhood abuse on one individual.
Admittedly, knowing that James Norton (star of the acclaimed BBC crime drama Happy Valley) was playing the lead role contributed to my desire to see the play. I was not disappointed: the 720-page novel was skilfully transformed into a three-hour-and-forty-minute play—a feat indicating the talent behind the adaption.
Time flew by throughout the performance, due to the excellent staging and pacing of the play. It follows the lives and friendships of four men moving to Manhattan after university. Naturally, certain details such as the intricacies of their relationships were sacrificed to condense the narrative and focus primarily on the book's main themes. Jude, brilliantly portrayed by Norton, takes centre stage as the play delves into his harrowing past of childhood abuse, which is the driving force behind the narrative. His extreme maltreatment includes being abandoned as a newborn and brought up by a congregation of priests who physically and emotionally abuse him, and eventually being kidnapped by one of them who uses him as a child prostitute and as his own “child lover”. Some have questioned the plausibility of Jude's ability to endure such unspeakable atrocities and yet still become a successful lawyer in New York City. However, as therapists, we are not strangers to this type of scenario and indeed, as the story slowly unfolds, it becomes clear that Jude has survived by burying his history and developing maladaptive coping mechanisms, specifically self-harming, and avoidance of intimate sexual relationships.
Poigna