A Year and a Day follows Nathan, who has been cursed to skip said amount of time into the future once the clock strikes midnight.
Christopher Sainton-Clark’s performance is undoubtedly the highlight — and not an easy feat to pull off.
As protagonist, antagonist, love interest, village drunk and narrator all rolled into one, the ease with which Sainton-Clark switched back and forth between roles was impressive.
From something as simple as rolled-up sleeves, he morphed between characters in a manner which was easy to follow.
Another highlight was the sparing use of light and sound — a perfect amount of restraint that only served to enhance Sainton-Clark’s performance.
The balance between narration and physical performance was also executed astonishingly well, and allowed me to get invested in the story without feeling like it was being explained to me.
But a few rapid time jumps decades into the present towards the end were less compelling, as narration began to outweigh the performance and less time was dedicated to physically acting out the changes in the world around Nathan.
I would have liked to see more build-up to the present day and the toll living life a year and a day at a time would have on someone.
Minor quibbles aside, A Year and a Day is an engaging and skilful performance — and a highly rewatchable one at that.
Further performances are at 6.30pm today and tomorrow.
