'I said no one should ever try to recreate this. This is agony in its purest form.'

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.

About the Author

Annie Baker's other plays include The Antipodes, John, The Flick (which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Circle Mirror Transformation and The Aliens. She wrote and directed her first film, Janet Planet, in 2023.

Reviews

'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 *

'Extraordinary... meticulous and mighty... a critique can't capture it: you have to be there'

* Observer *

'A play like no other... I don't know how Annie Baker does what she does. I only know that she does it brilliantly'

* Daily Express *

'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 World *

'Spare but richly satisfying, full of beguiling subtleties and opportunities for dry humour'

* Arts Desk *

'Baker may be the Pinter of our generation, with exquisite writing displaying true human insight. She may never be mainstream, but she remains a genius whose work is always enlightening'

* Broadway Baby *

'Slow, searing and profound... Annie Baker is a master at tunnelling into the nucleus of niche, private settings, populating them with a wholly plausible cocktail of characters and enthralling her audience with the early interactions and seminal conversations that take place between them'

* Culture Whisper *



Book Information
ISBN 9781839042775
Author Annie Baker
Format Paperback
Page Count 64
Imprint Nick Hern Books
Publisher Nick Hern Books
Weight(grams) 80g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 5mm