'Ours Was The Fen Country' excerpts from a conversation with choreographer Dan Canham

‘Theatre or dance has the function of bringing people together so they might recognize who they share the world with. That’s partly why I’m interested in things coming from real sources. You can gain a window into someone else’s life that you might not know anything about.’

‘I grew up around Cambridgeshire and never really had much time for it. I always looked towards the city. And then I turned 30 (I’m 32 now) and started to think about the place that formed me. My friend and I, who also grew up around there, used to go on these long walks. We’d just walk for hours at a time, along the line of this man-made drainage ditch. The landscape was quite desolate and empty and we felt there was material there for a piece.'

‘I started doing interviews there, without any specific goal in mind, seeking out interesting characters. And the more time passed, the narrower the remit got, and the more the interviews became about people living on the edge, or people who are the last of their line.’

‘Beforehand, I had some romantic notion of the place I grew up in and the place I might want to go back to one day… but the more time you spend in a place, and the fuller the picture you get, the less romanticised it becomes. It’s neither beautiful nor horrendous – it’s just a place.’

‘The idea is to honour what those interviewees gave as much as possible. Hopefully, there’s a deepening of some small element of that person in a way that goes beyond words.’

‘Dance is used quite sparingly in the show, but it’s absolutely necessary and it’s there to add meaning and a layer of emotional resonance to what would otherwise just be a radio play or an archive.’

‘I’m interested in how dance can inform words, and the meaning that is made between those two things.’

‘Did I feel there was something to lament in the passing of these ways of life depicted in the show? I think about 60% of the feeling is: it’s just a fact, and we’re just marking change. But there’s also a sadness in that. I think theatre has the function of providing a space for a communal witnessing of that.’

‘There’s an element of celebration as well. A lot of the interviewees are really remarkable people, people who would never normally be consulted on their opinions about anything. So there’s cause to celebrate their knowledge and their spirit. But at the same time, loss is inevitable and you have to accept it. Making the show was sort of coming to a point of acceptance of the inevitability of that fact.’

Watch a trailer for Ours Was The Fen Country here.

Book tickets here.

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