The production, directed by Jo Bonney, leans into the novel’s frank depictions of unbounded lust, gleeful disloyalty and bodily functions. Yet the story’s undertones of grief also attracted Turturro and Levy. Turturro read Roth’s memoir of his father’s death, “Patrimony: A True Story,” after his own father died and identified profoundly with it. Enacting the novel’s fragmented nature by jumping back and forth in time was crucial to its dramatic success, she added. “When you’re just writing, all you have is words, words, words, words, words,” Levy said.

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Persons: Jo Bonney, Turturro, Levy, ”, ” Levy, “, John, Sabbath’s, Nikki, Mickey’s, ” Bonney, “ We’re, you’re Organizations: National Theater Locations: London