The Norwegian theatre director on bringing Annie Ernaux’s memoir The Years to the West End, standing on Ivo van Hove’s shoulders, and why live experiences still matter

Eline Arbo is a Norwegian theatre director. She grew up in Tromsø in the Arctic Circle, went to university in Oslo, and studied directing at the Academy of Theatre and Dance in Amsterdam. In 2023, she succeeded Ivo van Hove as the artistic director of the celebrated Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, where her productions have included adaptations of The End of Eddy, a novel by Édouard Louis, and of The Years, a memoir by Annie Ernaux. An English-language version of The Years with five actors playing Ernaux was a sellout hit at the Almeida theatre in north London last year, and transfers to the West End later this month.

Did you have any idea just how successful The Years, your first production to be staged in London, would be?
No! It had already been a big hit in the Netherlands, but you never know what’s going to work in a different context. I felt it was an important story: you go through a woman’s whole life, with all its ups and downs, all the different roles you have to play and to juggle; all the bodily things, too. Audiences had told us what a profound experience this was for them. But it is a strange [experimental] form as well, and I did wonder how it would be received. I’ve never had anything like this happen before: the transfer [to the West End], and I’m so happy about it.