45 Years

About the show

"If she hadn’t died, if you had got to Italy – would you have married her for real?"
Buried for decades, the body of a young woman is found in the melting ice. A thousand miles and 45 years away... a crack forms in the crystal of a marriage.
It’s the week leading up to Kate and Geoff’s wedding anniversary and preparations for the party are in full swing. As they choose the music for their first dance, a letter from Switzerland quietly shatters their world.
Is the past another country? Or are the secrets in the attic of our memory destined to return?
Adapted from Andrew Haigh’s critically acclaimed 2015 film, 45 Years is an achingly tense, intimate and moving dance to the music of time.
Hannah Patterson’s plays include Eden (Hampstead Theatre) and Playing With Grown Ups (Theatre503), nominated for an OffWestEnd Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, which transferred to 59E59 in New York.
Director Prasanna Puwanarajah makes his CFT debut; his recent work includes Twelfth Night at the RSC, for which he won the 2025 UK Theatre Award for Best Director.
Geraldine James comes to Chichester for the first time in her distinguished career to play Kate. Her innumerable TV credits include Back to Life, Silo, This Town, Dope Girls and The Jewel in the Crown; recent stage roles include Creditors (Orange Tree) and As You Like It (RSC).