7 Dec 2023Size: 198mm x 129mm
Infinite Life
Paperback
£10.99£8.79
National Theatre (Dorfman), London
From Wed 22 Nov 2023 to Sat 13 Jan 2024
Five women in Northern California lie outside on chaises longues and philosophise. But can you ever communicate what it feels like to be inside your own body?
Annie Baker's play Infinite Life is a surprisingly funny inquiry into the complexity of suffering, and what it means to desire in a body that's failing. It was first produced in a co-production between the National Theatre, London, and Atlantic Theater Company, New York, and performed at both theatres in 2023, directed by James Macdonald.
'I said no one should ever try to recreate this. This is agony in its purest form.'
'A great new play. It peeps at the greatest mysteries of life'
The New York Times'The peerless Annie Baker's latest play is a mind-bending exploration of sex, pain and bodies... Infinite Life is a lucid fever dream, a trippy vision of profound truth... It is another extraordinary play from a writer seemingly capable of nothing else'
Time Out'Exquisite and bleakly funny'
The Times'Superb... Infinite Life is that rarest of things – a comedy about death and pain, written with such precision it seems to expose the workings of the heart... a terrific play, understated yet rich, utterly engrossing'
WhatsOnStage'Quietly riveting and stealthily moving... an absorbing, compassionate meditation on pain, mortality and our relationship with our bodies... Annie Baker's extraordinary plays are as idiosyncratic as they are fascinating and as funny as they are profound'
The Stage'[Annie Baker] has a knack for seeing people's weird innards and transmuting them into something transcendent… an undeniably important and timely work'
Guardian'Exquisite new comic drama'
New Yorker'Intensely humane and minutely observed... Baker's plays are singular creations that march to their own rhythm, and we're fortunate that four of them have now come to the National Theatre'
Evening Standard'Full of small wonders and subtle moments of quiet awakening'
Independent'Baker's play feels capacious – ever widening its arms to hold more humanity, more searching spirit… Infinite Life gathers us all in its wide embrace, turning its curious, accepting gaze on our brokenness'
New York Magazine'A very funny play, and a fine showcase for all its cast members… a work of lyrical beauty, humour, and insight'
New York Sun'An enigmatically idiosyncratic mediation on human suffering... richly rewarding... Baker truly is a powerful writer'
Broadway World7 Dec 2023Size: 198mm x 129mm