LACRIMA

Paris, 2025. A prestigious fashion house receives a most important commission: to create the future wedding dress for the Princess of England. For months, and in utmost secrecy, seamstresses, designers, workshop managers, and embroiderers will be hard at work between Paris, Alençon, and Mumbai... Until their lives take a dramatic turn. A director of emotion, Caroline Guiela Nguyen explores in her fictions the absent narratives and the missing bodies that never make it to the theatre stage. After showing us the inner workings of a Vietnamese restaurant in Saïgon and imagining the disappearance of part of humanity in FRATERNITÉ, Conte Fantastique, she has chosen fabric as the material to talk about our world: a fabric woven from threads that connect people across generations and across the globe. 

Esta es la historia de la creación de un vestido, un secreto que une una casa de alta costura parisina, un taller de bordado en Mumbai y a las últimas encajeras de Alençon. 

Interview with Caroline Guiela Nguyen

Accessibility: Connected glasses with French Sign Language and adapted French surtitles are available free of charge on reservation for the performance on 10 July: accessibilite@festival-avignon.com

With Dan Artus, Dinah Bellity, Natasha Cashman, Charles Vinoth Irudhayaraj, Anaele Jan Kerguistel, Maud Le Grevellec, Liliane Lipau, Nanii, Rajarajeswari Parisot, Vasanth Selvam
and video Nadia Bourgeois, Charles Schera, Fleur Sulmont
and the voices of Louise Marcia Blévins, Béatrice Dedieu, David Geselson, Kathy Packianathan, Jessica Savage-Hanford
Text and direction Caroline Guiela Nguyen
Translations Nadia Bourgeois, Carl Holland, Rajarajeswari Parisot (French sign language, English, Tamil)
Artistic collaboration Paola Secret
Set design Alice Duchange
Costumes and couture pieces Benjamin Moreau
Music Jean-Baptiste Cognet, Teddy Gauliat-Pitois, Antoine Richard
Sound Antoine Richard in collaboration with Thibaut Farineau
Lighting Mathilde Chamoux, Jérémie Papin
Video Jérémie Scheidler
Motion Design Marina Masquelier
Hair, hairpieces and make-up Émilie Vuez
Casting Lola Diane
Artistic consultancy Juliette Alexandre, Noémie de Lapparent
Recorded music Quatuor Adastra - string quartet
English translation for surtitles Panthea
Assistant director Iris Baldoureaux-Fredon
Dramaturgy assistant Louison Ryser, Tristan Schinz, Hugo Soubise
General manager Stéphane Descombes, Xavier Lazarini
Stage Manager Fabrice Henches
Video Manager Jérémie Scheidler, Philippe Suss (alternating)
Lighting Manager Mathilde Chamoux, Thibault D'Aubert (alternating)
Sound Manager Julien Feryn
Wardrobe Manager Bénédicte Foki

Production Théâtre national de Strasbourg
Coproduction Festival TransAmériques (Canada), La Comédie Centre dramatique national de Reims, Points communs Nouvelle Scène nationale (Cergy-Pontoise), Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Centro Dramático Nacional (Spain), Piccolo Teatro di Milano Teatro d'Europa (Italy), Théâtre de Liège (Belgium), Wiener Festwochen Freie Republik Wien (Austria), Théâtre national de Bretagne (Rennes), Festival d'Avignon, Les Hommes Approximatifs
Set and costume design, construction and embroidery Les ateliers du Théâtre national de Strasbourg
With the support of With the support of Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe (Paris), Théâtre Ouvert Centre nationaldes dramaturgies contemporaines (Paris), La Maison Jacques Copeau (Pernand-Vergelesses), Musée des Beaux-arts et de la Dentelle (Alençon), Atelier-Conservatoire National du Point d'Alençon, Institut français (New Delhi), Alliance française (Mumbai) and for the 78th edition of the Festival d'Avignon: Spedidam
Acknowledgements Valérie Rey-Robert, Louise Miragliese, Carole Keruzore, Docteur Ghada Hatem-Gantzer, Adama-Sira Le Blay, Ernestine Ronai, Christelle Taraud, Michèle Rigault, Magali Morales, Anne Lassale, Clémentine Chevalier, Malorie Triolet, Samuel Bony, Johanna Mauboussin, Brigitte Lefèbvre, Valérie Durand, Dominique Rousseau, Fatima Le Griguer, Dr Ritu Sethi, Amandine Roggeman, Stéphane Doutrelant, Raj Anand, Shama Thakare, Maxiliano Modesti, Konarak Navin Salian, Arun Jothi, Nathalie Frost, Llyod Fernandes, Constantin Leblan, Maya Sundarakrishnan, James Ferreira, Camille Nozay, Zahra Abdollahi, Danielle Songué, Anne-Lise Mary, Lucie Briffaut, Noémie Salgues, Victoria Patricot, Sorcadh McCarthy, Odile McCarthy, Anna Marc-Wecker, Zelda Perez, Thomas Bloch, Ana Reverdito-Hass, l’équipe des Hommes Approximatifs - Elsa Hummel- Zongo, Stéphane Triolet, Xavier Lazarini, Coline Loger, Carla Hérin, Isabelle Nougier et Eloise Royer, Laurent Guiela, Alexis et Liv Armengol, l’ensemble du personnel permanent et intermittent du Théâtre National de Strasbourg

The show's accessibility system has been developed by Panthea, in partnership with TANDEM scène nationale, as part of the "panthea.live Chrysalide" project, with the support and complicity of the Théâtre National de Strasbourg.

Lacrima by Caroline Guiela Nguyen will be published by Actes Sud in June 2024.