This is why A Little Life is an essential watch - and it's not because Happy Valley star James Norton gets naked

Not because that celebrity may not be right for the role, but because you do get audiences who are not there for the right reason. That might sound snobbish - after all ‘theatre is for all’ - but I have experienced unruly crowds who are only interested in one thing - letting that celebrity know they are there just for them. And that ruins it for everyone.

So when I ventured to the West End this week to see A Little Life featuring Happy Valley and McMafia star James Norton, it was with a little bit of trepidation. I had no worries the play was going to be anything but good, or Norton was going to be anything but superb.

But A Little Life features - and this is not a spoiler, it’s been well publicised - a naked James Norton. My fear was there would be people who were, rightly, blown away by his portrayal of Tommy Lee Royce - or any of his movie or TV performances - and wanted him to know how much they liked him, especially when he was in his birthday suit.

Luckily with my experience of A Little Life at the Harold Pinter Theatre, this was not my experience. And if it had happened, it would have been wholly inappropriate and it would have ruined what was a visceral, harrowing and moving stage adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s book.

The book is 720 pages and the stage version is 3 hours and 40 minutes (with a 20 minute interval). I won’t lie, the run time was a little off-putting - but I sat through a 3 hour version of Who’s Afraid of Vriginia Wolf? and a 4 hour version of Hamlet, starring Andrew Scott, which were coincidentally at the Harold Pinter as well.

From the moment the actors/characters were on the stage - including Bridgerton’s Luke Thompson (Willem), It’s a Sin’s Omari Douglas (JB), Zach Wyatt (Malcolm) and Zubin Marla (Harold), fresh from his Oliver Award win for his performance in Tammy Faye - you are in their lives and hooked from minute one all the way to minute 220. And for most of it you could hear a pin drop in the audience.

The story focuses on Jude as we - and his friends - slowly learn about what abuse and traumas he has experienced throughout his life. You don’t just hear what he’s been through, you see it. And that’s what makes A Little Life such a harrowing, compelling watch.

The whole cast are superb - especially Thompson and Marla, with Elliot Cowan putting on suitably nasty performances as Brother Luke/Dr Traylor/Caleb - but Norton really is the star of the show.

It is an astonishing performance. You really do feel everything he is going through. Even when he is silent, he is telling you so much.

A Little Life is not easy watch by any stretch, but it is an essential watch. And without trying to contradict myself, go and see if it is just for Norton’s performance - I can’t believe he will ever be better.

*The critically-acclaimed A Little Life is written by Hanya Yanagihara and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2015. The stage adaptation was directed by Ivan Van Hove and adapted by Van Hove, Yanagihara and Koen Tachelet.

A Little Life is on at the Harold Pinter Theatre until June 18 before transferring to the Savoy Theatre from July 4 to August 5.