Larisa Faber premieres ‘The Land We Shared’ at Artsdepot

The Romanian director talks about grief, surrealism and unfinished business with Leïla Davaud ahead of her London premiere on 15th October

Three people in unusual costumes standing together — The Land We Shared (Credit – Jeannine Unsen)

“Humour is often a coping mechanism in extreme situations, because it’s all that’s left”, explains Larisa Faber, award-winning director of The Land We Shared. Next month, she will take to the stage at Artsdepot with this intimate piece.

She continues: “One character in the show says that ‘to joke is to disarm’. The humour is very much part of my family folklore: we’ve always joked around or made fun of dire situations.”

Larisa Faber started writing the play after the death of her grandmother. She buried her before finding a bag of clothes with a note inside saying “These are the clothes I wish to be buried in”.

Faber thought she’d make a terrible mistake. A mistake which ended up inspiring her to create a documentary theatre piece with songs and lots of cabbages.

She shares: “I didn’t want to write an autobiographical play, because I found that too restrictive and intrusive. It’s refreshing to be able to take a step back and craft something bespoke for the stage, regardless of this or that real anecdote.

“I needed to differentiate between story beats that were important for the narrative arc or character development and personal memories that matter only to me. I also love goofiness and surrealism. The image of the protagonist turning into a massive cabbage was there from the start. What happened under communism was surreal, to put it mildly, so that style made a lot of sense to me for this story.”

When asked if piecing together the story was therapeutic, she says: “The play is auto-fiction and I’ve taken a lot of artistic freedom. Still, I couldn’t have written it if I hadn’t made peace with the more personal aspects of it beforehand. The business needed to be finished for me so that I could write and take those liberties.”

What happened to the bag of funeral clothes? Larisa still has it in her wardrobe. “The real Larisa’s journey differs quite a bit from the fictional one in the show. They are both ways of dealing with grief.”

Her hope, while taking The Land We Shared on the road is “that audiences will connect with the relationships regardless of origin: if you’ve loved your grandmother as much as I have, this show is for you. If you’ve had a heartbreaking, difficult relationship with another family member, this show is for you. It’s about grief, letting go and deep love as much as it is about Romania.”

While the show navigates through family tragedies and fall outs, Faber also offers a glimpse of how the Romanian communist dictatorship shaped its people’s lives. To this day, she still has an emotional attachment to her country’s history.

She explains: “I also have a deep desire to see the country do well, without romanticising it. My Romania lives in my family’s stories more than in current Romania. It’s rooted in the past somewhat, an era I believe is crucial to understanding the present-day.”

‘The Land We Shared’ will premiere at Artsdepot on Thursday, 15th October at 7:30pm. Tickets available from £19. More information, www.artsdepot.co.uk.

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