The world premiere of a new work by Diane Samuels (author of award-winning Kindertransport).
AS LONG AS WE ARE BREATHING is a multi-sensory, mixed media and timely evocation of the true-life story of Miriam Freedman.
Directed by Ben Caplan, the piece conjures Miriam’s childhood experience of living in danger, hiding with some of her family in Slovakia during the Holocaust and charts her journey to London in adulthood where she discovered yoga and meditation which enabled her to face and begin to process the depths of her trauma and grief.
Live music accompanies audio and video footage, personal testimony and physical theatre to piece together an intimate, surprising and moving encounter with Miriam’s older and younger self. We invite audiences to delve within to contemplate Miriam’s loss and search for healing, peace and forgiveness in a shared theatrical experience.
Ahead of the run at Arcola Theatre we spoke with writer Diane Samuels and director Ben Caplan to learn more.
What can you please tell me about As Long As We Are Breathing Meditations On Survival and Beyond?
The show is about the extraordinary life of Miriam Freedman. Miriam was born in Bratislava (then Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia) and spent most of her childhood during the Second World War in hiding with her mother, sister, aunts and cousin. Through amazing good fortune and with courageous help they evaded Nazi capture, but her father, brother and another sister did not survive. Weaving together her early years and adulthood, two actresses play younger and older Miriam on her healing path as she discovers yoga, meditation and art therapy which enable her to break through denial to face and process the depths of her loss and grief.
Where did the inspiration for the piece come from?
Diane: Ben Caplan, who had been invited to direct, approached me in spring 2023 about editing extracts from 2 video interviews with Miriam and writing a few scenes of key moments from her life for a presentation at JW3 in November that year. I had three weeks to produce a first draft and was so moved and compelled by Miriam's story that I was unable to reduce it to a few brief impressions and delivered a script of over 80 pages.
What first drew you to this piece?
Ben: I was fascinated by Miriam’s story and how she was able to remain determined and strong in the face of such danger and from a young child in hiding how she went on to survive and live such a full and vibrant life after the war. Her exploration into dealing with her trauma, healing and overcoming grief are a great lesson for us all and her philosophy for living a full life is inspiring and universal.
What was the writing and development period like for this piece?
Diane: After the initial draft was written there was an intense period preparing the rough first version for the JW3 presentation in November. This consisted of a solo actress playing Eva, Miriam's younger self, bringing alive her story juxtaposed with Voice Over edited fragments of the real Miriam, alongside a live musician and accompanied with projected images of photos from Miriam's life. This was very well received and six months later we spent a week exploring how to make the piece a two-hander with an actress taking over the voice over fragments to create the role of Miriam alongside younger self Eva. This was very fruitful and with the help of dramaturg Titania Krimpas the play has been further developed as a two-hander between with a live musician to make a company of three.
As director how do you approach bringing your own vision to the piece?
Ben: I was very keen to explore the different ways to tell this story using multiple voices being channeled through an older and younger version of Miriam but also exploring what live music and movement could bring to it. A real multi sensual experience was really exciting to explore and I have been blessed with bringing together a very talented team of creatives.
How has the collaborative process between you both been?
Diane: From the outset, Ben and I discovered that we independently had the same key ideas - we both instinctively felt the play needed to take the shape of a meditation led by older Miriam for the audience and alsothat we wanted to bring in an older and younger actress to play Miriam at different ages and explore their relationship theatrically. We have enjoyed collaborating with each other, the actors, video designer, musician and composer, set and costume designer and consulted with Miriam too. A team effort to create a work of art from a real life story. Multi-dimensional in many ways.
Ben: I have loved working with Diane on this piece and from the outset we had really similar ideas as to what the approach could be. We have really bounced ideas around and have been able to share and explore new ways to bring the story to life. I think we both knew it was a very special and unique story and we both had the right artistic approach and shared vision to move it forwards.
How do you approach bringing together physical theatre with music, audio and video to impactfully tell the story?
Diane: Yoga is a key aspect of the production and movement director Jasmin Colangelo has worked closely with the two actors. There's a flow between each specialist practitioner working on their own aspect and checking in regularly with the other elements of the piece as they increasingly merge. Music is integral and multi-instrumentalist Matthew James Hinchliffe, who also composes, is present in all rehearsals shaping the music as the scenes come alive.
Ben: Having a very talented team is a great start and I was very keen for the whole process to be collaborative so everyone could bring their own expertise to the project. My main vision was to try and make sure that we were subtly bringing all the elements together to enhance the storytelling and make sure that each aspect was there for a reason and served a purpose. Trying to identify what those different aspects were and how they contributed to the overall vision was the initial question and once that was clarified it felt like we were all singing from the same hymn sheet so to speak.
Diane: Yoga is a key aspect of the production and movement director Jasmin Colangelo has worked closely with the two actors. There's a flow between each specialist practitioner working on their own aspect and checking in regularly with the other elements of the piece as they increasingly merge. Music is integral and multi-instrumentalist Matthew James Hinchliffe, who also composes, is present in all rehearsals shaping the music as the scenes come alive.
Ben: Having a very talented team is a great start and I was very keen for the whole process to be collaborative so everyone could bring their own expertise to the project. My main vision was to try and make sure that we were subtly bringing all the elements together to enhance the storytelling and make sure that each aspect was there for a reason and served a purpose. Trying to identify what those different aspects were and how they contributed to the overall vision was the initial question and once that was clarified it felt like we were all singing from the same hymn sheet so to speak.
Where did your arts career begin?
Diane: I wrote my first play when I was seven years old for my friends to act out – it was about a Fortune Teller. As a teenager I took part in The Shifrin Foundation youth theatre company in Liverpool where I grew up – here we devised and performed ensemble productions from daft pantomimes to meticulously researched political documentary theatre. When I was studying history at Cambridge, I mounted a number of group improvised plays as a student and trained for a PGCE in drama at Goldsmiths’ London. After a few years teaching drama I became Education Officer at the Unicorn Theatre which was then based at the Arts Theatre near Leicester Square and the artistic director there commissioned me to write my first professional play.
Ben: I grew up going to the Theatre and was immediately drawn to the live experience and the magic of different ways of telling stories. I was asked to join the Young Vic Youth Theatre when I was younger and started doing plays and working with brilliantly talented, like mindedpeople. I got into drama school and then started working professionally as an actor before feeling the urge to start directing and having taught and directed at drama schools as well as directing on stage and screen I am now keen to try and balance both mediums as they really do complement each other.
How do you reflect on your career to date?
Diane: Since Kindertransport won the Verity Bargate and Meyer Whitworth Awards, I have undertaken an adventurous career that has involved straightforward theatre productions all over the world, collaborations with musicians, medical specialists, creating musicals and an opera, mounting an interactive monologue performance of fragments of my own life story. I have recently completed a novel that is partly autobiographical and have in mind another novel. Alongside creating work, I also run writing groups and courses to support others in developing their creative practice. My career is an expression of a rich and curious writing and creative life that constantly takes me into new territory. I am particularly focused on work that gives voice to the invisible, silenced, and wounded parts in search of healing.
Ben: I feel very blessed to have such a varied career onstage and screen both as an actor and director and having worked with and learnt from some very talented and brilliant artists. I continue to learn and grow and keep challenging myself to try new things and work in different ways to push and develop my own artistic journey.
How does your own knowledge now impact on the work you want to create?
Diane: It’s what I don’t know and want to discover as much as what I think I know that inspires me in my work. I am always drawn to probing the underbelly, psychologically digging
Ben: I feel like I have a clearer idea of the ways in which I want to work and the kind of environments I want to put myself in. The world needs art more than ever to try and make sense of the confusing and often complicated place we live in and so being drawn to projects that really do have an impact and brings people together is now very much my focus.
Ben: I feel like I have a clearer idea of the ways in which I want to work and the kind of environments I want to put myself in. The world needs art more than ever to try and make sense of the confusing and often complicated place we live in and so being drawn to projects that really do have an impact and brings people together is now very much my focus.
What keeps you inspired?
Diane: Waking up each morning, breathing, dancing, Qi Gong practice, art therapy, cold water swimming and the beautiful absurdity of human behaviour, world, universe, life and everything and our capacity to heal. Questions.
Ben: My family, working with talented and brave individuals and also challenging myself to move out of my comfort zone. Learning new skills, studying, time in nature and watching work from creatives that I have admired over the years.
Diane: Waking up each morning, breathing, dancing, Qi Gong practice, art therapy, cold water swimming and the beautiful absurdity of human behaviour, world, universe, life and everything and our capacity to heal. Questions.
Ben: My family, working with talented and brave individuals and also challenging myself to move out of my comfort zone. Learning new skills, studying, time in nature and watching work from creatives that I have admired over the years.
What was the first piece of theatre that had a big impact on you?
Diane: Ken Campbell’s Illuminatus which consisted of five plays, each less put-together than the one before, which I went to see over an entire Sunday from early morning to late night in a small theatre space on Cavern St in the centre of Liverpool when I was seventeen. The line between audience and actors was increasingly blurred. They were making it up as they went along and we chipped in. It was anarchic, hilarious, obscure, bizarre, esoteric and utterly immersive.
Ben: Street of crocodiles by Complicite really blew my mind as a drama student and expanded my comprehension of what could be possible in the Theatre. Watching The Woman in Black at the Fortune for the first time as a kid and seeing how 2 actors can tell such a brilliant and terrifying story using the bare minimum and a production of A Mid Summer’s Night’s Dream at the Open Air Theatre in Regents park where the actor playing Puck created pure magic with his command of beautiful language and its connection to the outdoors.
What do you want an audience member to feel after they've seen As Long As We Are Breathing Meditations On Survival and Beyond?
Diane: Moved, touched, calmer than when they entered and more connected to others in the audience and the wider world than they were at the beginning
Ben: Hopefully to be inspired and moved and to recognise that we all have challenges to face in life but just by being present at times and remembering to breathe deeply and hold love in your heart you can overcome anything.
Where can readers see As Long As We Are Breathing Meditations On Survival and Beyond?
Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin St, London E8 3DL from January 29th to March 1st 2025.
Tickets are available from https://www.arcolatheatre.com/whats-on/as-long-as-we-are-breathing/
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