A Little Life stormed onto the West End in 2023, bringing to life the devastating novel by Hanya Yanagihara of the same name<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fresh from Happy Valley<\/a>\u2018s finale, James Norton gave a career-best performance as Jude \u2013 a lawyer whose childhood was riddled with psychological and sexual abuse. As a result of this trauma, Jude self-harms, something that takes centre stage in the play.<\/p>\n The three-hour and 40-minute run time saw some audience members have to leave the theatre and even projectile vomit<\/a> at times, something that wasn\u2019t any easier on Norton returning to the play night after night.<\/p>\n Speaking to press at the Olivier Awards, Norton admitted that A Little Life was \u201cthe hardest thing\u201d he has \u201cever done\u201d in his life.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cFor us to be here representing the show is lovely. It was the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done in my life [but] it was also the most rewarding. So to end up here is just a lovely way end to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Norton was nominated for Best Actor at the coveted ceremony, but lost out to Mark Gatiss, who took home the trophy for his role in The Motive and the Cue at the National Theatre.<\/p>\n Norton wasn\u2019t the only nod to A Little Life, with his co-stars Luke Thompson and Zubin Varla both nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.<\/p>\n The play saw critics split on their opinion, with some praising Norton\u2019s \u201ccourageous performance\u201d, while others called the play \u201cdeeply troubling\u201d.<\/p>\n Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times<\/a> gave the show three stars, saying \u201cthe story becomes a relentless pile-up of pain and physical suffering\u201d.<\/p>\n Neil Norman of the Daily Express<\/a> awarded the play five stars, describing it as \u201cindustrial strength theatre for theatregoers\u201d.<\/p> For information and support on dealing with self-harm, please visit MIND<\/a>\u00a0or call MIND\u2019s confidential Infoline on 0300 123 3393.<\/em><\/p>\n Visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what\u2019s on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out our Standing at Sky\u2019s Edge review<\/a>, plus how to get Heathers West End tickets<\/a>, and don\u2019t forget we\u2019ve got the best West End shows<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n The Happy Valley star was nominated for Best Actor at the Olivier Awards for his role as Jude in the play. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":49594,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/james-norton-says-a-little-life-was-hardest-thing-hes-ever-had-to-do-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/james-norton-says-a-little-life-was-hardest-thing-hes-ever-had-to-do-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/james-norton-says-a-little-life-was-hardest-thing-hes-ever-had-to-do-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/james-norton-says-a-little-life-was-hardest-thing-hes-ever-had-to-do-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/james-norton-says-a-little-life-was-hardest-thing-hes-ever-had-to-do-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/james-norton-says-a-little-life-was-hardest-thing-hes-ever-had-to-do-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/04\/james-norton-says-a-little-life-was-hardest-thing-hes-ever-had-to-do-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Happy Valley star was nominated for Best Actor at the Olivier Awards for his role as Jude in the play.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/49593"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"James](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/James-Norton-232d128.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"James")
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