The Art of Belonging

Liz Richardson explores Home and Nostalgia in Local.

Writer and performer Liz Richardson is no stranger to turning life’s most personal moments into stories for the stage. Her acclaimed solo show, Local, arriving at the Pavilion Arts Centre in Buxton next month, explores teenage memories, nostalgia, and the complex question of what it truly means to belong to a place.

When Liz set out to revisit her Cumbrian upbringing, she had a very different production in mind. "I originally went back to where I was from, to do some digging around and spend some time thinking on the place, with a very different idea in my head for a show than what Local is today," she explains. "Spending time in the landscape and revisiting places and people I hadn't seen for some time made me realise how much I had moved on in my own life, physically and mentally. Local represents where I am up to now in my life: my age, my ambitions and my family and wider social circles."

That reflection takes audiences through an emotional spectrum. "I think visceral showings of these emotions go hand in hand and complement each other," Liz says. "We need release from our sadness before we sink too low, and my giving permission to laugh immediately afterwards (usually at my own expense) brings audiences closer. When I write, I can only stay in these states briefly before moving on; this creates the surprise element for audiences, as well as the feeling of being held."

Though autobiographical, the show strikes a chord with audiences by focusing on universal human experiences like grief, health, and shifting ideas of home. "Even though my show has places and people specific to me, the play's message invites audiences to reflect on where they truly feel they belong, how they arrived where they are today, and what they have had to let go of to get there."

Bringing Local to Buxton holds unique significance. As an artist who lives and works right in the High Peak, teaching drama to local young people, performing to neighbours offers a whole new dimension. "It often is quite exposing!" Liz admits. "I opened the show last year in the place where I was born and I tell a lot of home-truths in the show, so that was quite unnerving... but in fact it opened up a bigger conversation with 'locals'." She hopes the Buxton run will spark similar connections while highlighting that "theatre and the arts are accessible here in Derbyshire."

As the 75-minute performance draws to a close, Liz hopes the audience leaves eager to talk. "What I do hope for is that it creates conversation, because that is often what we miss out on most in our lives, which are so busy and so full of technology! This basic human need to express how things relate to them, to share in our experiences, can only truly be valued through face-to-face interaction with each other. The arts give a space for that to exist and I hope, specifically, Local does."