After Life (NHB Modern Plays)

By Hirokazu Kore-eda

If you could spend eternity with just one precious memory, what would it be?

A group of strangers grapple with this impossible question as they find themselves in a bureaucratic waiting room between life and death. Encouraged by enigmatic officials, they must sift through their past lives to choose their forever.

Adapted from Hirokazu Kore-eda's award-winning film, After Life is a surreal and powerfully human look at the way we view our lives, and a haunting meditation on what it is to live – and to die.

Written by Jack Thorne from a concept by Bunny Christie, Jeremy Herrin and Thorne, After Life was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in June 2021.

It was directed by Herrin, in a co-production with Headlong, by special arrangement with Buena Vista Theatrical.

'A compelling vision of eternity' - The Times

'A powerful show with subtlety and tenderness' - The i

'A great idea, charmingly done... Although After Life is based on a film, its best parts are pure theatre' - Guardian

'Miraculous... an absolutely superb play... I was incredibly moved by it... a properly transcendent piece of theatre' - Time Out

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Nov 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781788503914

Hirokazu Kore-eda

Hirokazu Kore-eda is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including After Life (1998), Nobody Knows (2004), Still Walking (2008), and After the Storm (2016). He won the Jury Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival for Like Father, Like Son and won the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters.