
The Land of the Living
National Theatre – 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? They meet again in 1990, and Thomas wants answers.
The artwork shows Ruth holding young Thomas against her. Is the gesture tender, or controlling? You can see the doubts creeping in on Ruth’s face.
Photography (Juliet Stevenson) by Felicity McCabe
