Adapting the film 45 Years for the Chichester stage

Starring Gabriel Byrne and Geraldine James, from Andrew Haigh’s film, it is at Chichester Festival Theatre until Saturday, July 11.

As Hannah says, “Watching the film – and I won't say which moment because I don't want to ruin it – I just wanted to shout at a character ‘Don’t say yes!’ And I think when you want to speak to one of the characters so much to tell them not to do what they're about to do, then that is a big connection. I saw an early screening of the film in London and I just loved it. I found it very tense and very emotional. It's that kind of drama that you don't tend to get in British films, that you tend to get more in French or European films or that you tend to get more in the theatre here.

“It's a very filmic film and beautifully made but I just thought that it would work as a play because it is so intense and so much about the characters. I did some research and found out that it was adapted from a short story, and it just stuck in my head. It niggled away so much that I got in touch with the producers of the film and said could I do the adaptation. They agreed that I could talk to theatres about it. I just found such a emotional connection with it. I could so easily see it working on the stage so I wrote it and I sent it to Chichester and they liked it.

“I read the short story but it was the screenplay that I was working from. You just have to think to yourself what do you need to make happen for it to work on the stage. I tried to reduce the number of characters and I just thought who do I need to have there to tell the story. In film you can move to another space entirely very quickly just for a couple of seconds but you can't do that on the stage obviously. If you move to another scene you have to have good reason to do that. I just found the process fascinating.

“It's about a couple who are approaching their 45th wedding anniversary party. But at the beginning of the week, he receives a letter from the Swiss authorities telling him that the body of his ex-girlfriend from 50 years ago has been found. They were walking in the Alps and her body has been found in a glacier. She died 50 years ago but because the glacier has melted she has been revealed in the ice.

“And that sets in motion a re-examination of their marriage. He starts thinking about the alternative life that he could have had and she starts to think about the life that she has had not knowing what has happened.”

45 Years will play through without an interval: “I think an interval is good for some plays when something very significant happens and you can finish the first half on a story cliffhanger or an emotional cliffhanger, and the audience having 20 minutes away from the piece actually serves the story. But with this one it is quite a hothouse environment that increases in intensity, and I just didn't want to let the air out of it. You don't want people walking away and chatting about it in the middle. But I really want people to talk about it afterwards. I'd like to think that people will walk away at the end discussing it, talking about the characters, whether they agree or don't agree. There is ambiguity in there and there is very much room for what the audience thinks.”