National Theatre at Home: The Land of the Living

(2025)

‘All my life – all your life – I’ve struggled with this: was what I did “wrong”?’ Germany, 1945. Thomas, one of thousands of children stolen by the Nazis from Eastern Europe during WWII, is under the care of Ruth, a UN relief worker. Should she try to find his parents or leave him with those he’s grown up with? The choice she makes will shape his life. London, 1990. Years later, Thomas visits Ruth. As they untangle the past, the decisions Ruth made as a very young woman are called powerfully into question. Juliet Stevenson is Ruth in this remarkable and timely new play by David Lan, former Artistic Director of the Young Vic. Immersed in the shapeshifting nature of memory and morality, it’s directed by Stephen Daldry (The Jungle, The Inheritance).