James Norton and Omari Douglas to star in A Little Life

Hanya Yanagihara’s critically acclaimed novel A Little Life is coming to London’s West End with James Norton, Omari Douglas, Luke Thompson, and Zach Wyatt… prepare to sob.

Ivo van Hove is directing the piece in its English language premiere.

A Little Life is the heartbreaking story of four college friends in New York City as their lives are pulled apart by various forces, revered for its dense length and difficult subject matters of abuse, race, privilege, sexuality, friendship, and addiction.

Grantchester‘s James Norton is playing prodigious lawyer Jude, Bridgerton‘s Luke Thompson is aspiring actor Willem, It’s A Sin star Omari Douglas as struggling artist JB, and You‘s Zach Wyatt as frustrated architect Malcolm.

Rounding out the cast is Elliot Cowan, Zubin Varla, Nathalie Armin, and Emilio Doorgasingh.

Hove originally directed the play in Dutch and presented the show in Edinburgh earlier this year.

“I think I have a very good team of actors,” says van Hove about the new English-language version. “I really took my time to talk to people, do auditions, because it’s very intense to play it, and I hope I have found a group that can trust each other,” Hove told BBC News.

“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,” Yanagihara shared, the book has sold over 2.5 million copies.

“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,” she added.

“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.”

“The book is a kind of a mystery, because it became a huge bestseller,” Hove added. “It’s a little bit strange because it talks about cruel things, about a traumatic experience that haunts somebody for the rest of his life.”

“But after all these years, every night, theatres are full, people are moved, sometimes angry, but it creates a very visceral reaction towards it,” he continued.

A Little Life will play an initial week at the Richmond Theatre from 14 to 18 March, ahead of a West End run at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 25 March to 18 June. 

General sale tickets are available from 23 November here.