Currently playing in the Lyttelton Theatre, The Year of Magical Thinking is a heartbreaking account of one woman's life in the aftermath of her husband's sudden death. Acting legend Vanessa Redgrave plays Joan Didion, the famous american author who wrote the original novel based on her own life experiences.

Press night for this show took palce on Wednesday 30 April and we were joined by Entry Pass members Joseph Sims, Josh Pascall and Sita Thomas to reveiew the show. Check out what they thought of the show...

Spell binding, funny, heart-wrenching and tear-jerking, ‘The Year of Magical Thinking' by Joan Didion is a play that you will never forget. Vanessa Redgrave magnificently engages audience members for the ninety minute play. The production is theatre at its simplest form: a one woman cast with a minimalist set, and with subtle lighting and sound design. This ensures that the main focus for the audience is the character's journey, her remembrance of the grief and madness that she suffered after the deaths of her husband and her daughter. Based on Joan Didion's memoir, this play brings a sense of the harsh reality of the emotional suffering surrounding the death of loved ones. A factor that keeps us rapt and captivated is that the play does not simply focus on one woman's journey, but invites us to examine our own lives and experiences. The play is an emotional rollercoaster which takes audience members on an exciting ride that highlights universal issues and also has a true sense of domestic realism. A must see performance by a mesmerising actor that holds a mirror up to the white and grey world that surrounds us and leaves an inner state of turmoil of satisfaction and despair.

Sita Thomas

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I have experienced extreme grief. Like Joan Didion, the writer of The Year of Magical Thinking, I have gone through the prolonged pain that comes with losing a loved one. I had feared, therefore, that I might feel an overflow of emotion while sitting through her new play. It had never occurred to me that I might feel nothing at all.
The reason is that no matter how universal or moving the subject matter, listening to someone talk for 100 minutes is not dramatically interesting. (More intense theatre enthusiasts might not like to admit this, lest they appear un-intellectual, but it's true.) Despite Vanessa Redgrave's best efforts, I found myself frequently drifting off during Magical Thinking, mostly because the play made no visual effort to keep me engaged. Where Anthony Sher's one-man show Primo kept its audience's attention through great use of space and light, Redgrave is kept seated for almost the entirety of Magical Thinking. This static approach gives the audience nothing to look at except the distant actress, creating an unfortunate disconnect and killing the emotional impact her words should have.
Perhaps Magical Thinking would have worked better as a more traditional play, with the protagonist able to play off her husband and daughter rather than simply describe them. Those who wish to have Didion's ordeal described to them can buy her novel; those who seek a theatrical experience, however, should get more than a glorified book reading.

Joey Sims

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On the 30th December 2003 the American novelist John Gregory Dunne dropped dead in his Manhattan apartment. His wife, also a writer, Joan Didion found that the best way to face her grief was to write her feelings down. In 2005 her memoirs, entitled The Year Of Magical Thinking was published. It has now been adapted for the stage by director David Hare and stars Vanessa Redgrave as the only cast member. The first thing I noticed was the very interesting set. The backdrop was simple but as throughout the play the sheets dropped down it was very effective in creating tension.
The play concerns the year after the death of her husband and Joan Didion's attention to detail in her writing is astounding. She did a lot of medical research for the book and surprisingly this translates to the stage very well. Although the play's themes are very bleak and depressing there is some comic relief in there and subtle jokes about social workers and taxi fares work very well.
Vanessa Redgrave is most definitely one of the greatest screen and stage actors of all time and her commanding presence here was amazing. It is obvious she has put a massive amount of work into this role and it pays off. To put it simply, she was outstanding. The Year Of Magical Thinking is a compelling and emotional but witty 90 minutes, a play I really think everyone must see.

Josh Pascall