Land of the Living at National Theatre tells story of Lebensborn programme

Land of The Living at the National Theatre tells the story of Thomas, a young child snatched from his family as part of the Lebensborn programme –  the Nazi initiative to increase Germany’s population by stealing Aryan-looking children and newborn babies from their mothers, and taking them to be brought up by German families.

Fast forward to 1990 when adult Thomas meets Ruth, the UN relief worker involved in his abduction. As they untangle the past, the decisions Ruth made as a very young woman are called powerfully into question.

Latvian-born Avital Lvova, who grew up in Germany, plays six different parts including the role of a Soviet liaison officer, and a paediatrician. Directed by Stephen Daldry, the play also stars Juliet Stephenson.

Avital credits the matriarchs in her family for helping her to achieve her dream of becoming an actor. “I was bought up by three strong women, my mother, my grandmother and my auntie. I now realise how lucky I was to have such supportive people encouraging me and giving me the drive to succeed. My mother would always come to see my plays, even if they were in English, which she does not speak.”

Avital came to the UK aged 18 to study for a BA in Acting and Contemporary Theatre at East 15 acting school. “The head of the department was the wonderful Uri Roodner from Israel, and he taught me so much. I learned not only how to act but also how to write, direct, produce and to create my own work.”

But it was not always easy for Avital. After her degree she wrote to 60 agents and not one of them replied. Undeterred she decided she would produce her own show, and it was this that opened the door to her success. It was seen by an agent and Avital’s acting career took off.

It was while she was performing her show at Edinburgh Fringe that she met and fell in love with her now husband James Alexandrou. Together they run Playhouse East, a theatre space in Haggerston that has become a theatre campus for design creatives. They have built a theatre, and a studio space along with 15 offices that are rented out to theatre creatives. The latest addition to the complex is the newly-opened Rumble, a post-production audio company that has already won contracts with household names in the film industry. James wrote, directed and starred in the award nominated play Casserole and this year the couple launched an initiative to sponsor seven first-time, working class playwrights to pitch ideas for one-act plays.

“We asked people to submit their plays with no other information – no detail about their age, address, training or ethnicity,” says Avital. “We wanted to judge them blind, solely on the merits of their writing. And the results were amazing. We plan to showcase this new work at the end of this year and to give a stage to this wonderful new work.”

An accomplished actor, Avital can also be seen in Atomic – a five episode series on Sky and Now TV – in which she plays the daughter of an oligarch.

Land of the Living is at the Dorfman Theatre until 1 November. nationaltheatre.org.uk