LACRIMA
© Jean-Louis Fernandez
Paris 2025. A prestigious fashion house receives a special order; prepare a wedding dress for an English princess. From France to India, Caroline Guiela Nguyen connects the process of creation for a precious dress to the lives of tailors, lace-makers and embroiderers, exploring the secret processes and the dynamics that lie beneath the surface in the world of high fashion.
London, 2025. An English princess orders a wedding dress from a prestigious Parisian house of haute couture at number 8, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Step by step, the play focuses on all the “hands” involved in creating the precious object. For 8 months, and with thousands of hours of work, it follows the process of creating a dress that is destined to become a part of history, hidden under strict confidentiality clauses as per royal protocol and the rules of high tailoring.
From a Parisian haute couture fashion house to an embroidery workshop in Mumbai, to a lace atelier in Alençon, three universes tied together by work, by know-how and by the bond of silence, three environments where violence will emerge from among the threads of linen and cotton, and where the bodies of men and women are broken from their endeavours.
Without ever belittling the skill of these artisans, the play constantly asks the question: in the silence of secrecy, what space lies between that which destroys us and that which preserves us?
Caroline Guiela Nguyen, associated artist at the Piccolo Teatro, chooses textiles as the narrative common thread that binds a joint effort spanning two continents.
Recommended for audiences aged 16 and over
Some scenes include moments of physical and psychological violence
A show in French with scenes in Tamil, English and sign language with Italian and English surtitles
Duration: 175’ without intermission
Contacts
London, 2025. An English princess orders a wedding dress from a prestigious Parisian house of haute couture at number 8, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Step by step, the play focuses on all the “hands” involved in creating the precious object. For 8 months, and with thousands of hours of work, it follows the process of creating a dress that is destined to become a part of history, hidden under strict confidentiality clauses as per royal protocol and the rules of high tailoring.
From a Parisian haute couture fashion house to an embroidery workshop in Mumbai, to a lace atelier in Alençon, three universes tied together by work, by know-how and by the bond of silence, three environments where violence will emerge from among the threads of linen and cotton, and where the bodies of men and women are broken from their endeavours.
Without ever belittling the skill of these artisans, the play constantly asks the question: in the silence of secrecy, what space lies between that which destroys us and that which preserves us?
Caroline Guiela Nguyen, associated artist at the Piccolo Teatro, chooses textiles as the narrative common thread that binds a joint effort spanning two continents.
Recommended for audiences aged 16 and over
Some scenes include moments of physical and psychological violence
A show in French with scenes in Tamil, English and sign language with Italian and English surtitles
Duration: 175’ without intermission
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© Jean-Louis Fernandez
-
© Jean-Louis Fernandez
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© Jean-Louis Fernandez
Credits
LACRIMA
written and directed by Caroline Guiela Nguyen
translation in sign language, English and Tamil Nadia Bourgeois, Carl Holland, Rajarajeswari Parisot
with Dan Artus, Dinah Bellity, Natasha Cashman, Charles Vinoth Irudhayaraj, Anaele Jan Kerguistel, Maud Le Grevellec, Liliane Lipau, Nanii, Rajarajeswari Parisot, Vasanth Selvam
in video Nadia Bourgeois, Charles Schera, Fleur Sulmont
voices Louise Marcia Blévins, Béatrice Dedieu, David Geselson, Kathy Packianathan, Jessica Savage-Hanford
artistic collaborator Paola Secret
stage design Alice Duchange
costumes and high-fashion garments Benjamin Moreau
lighting Mathilde Chamoux, Jérémie Papin
sound Antoine Richard
in collaboration with Thibaut Farineau
original music Jean-Baptiste Cognet, Teddy Gauliat-Pitois, Antoine Richard
video Jérémie Scheidler
motion design Marina Masquelier
hairdressing, wigs and make-up Émile Vuez
casting Lola Diane
stage management Stéphane Descombes, Xavier Lazarini
apprentice dramaturgs Louison Ryser, Tristan Schinz (students from the École du TNS, Groupe 48)
apprentice director Iris Baldoureaux-Fredon
apprentice sound technician Ella Bellone
assistant dramaturg Hugo Soubise
artistic consultancy Juliette Alexandre, Noémie de Lapparent
recorded music Quatuor Adastra – quatuor à cordes
surtitles Panthéa
decorations, costumes and embroidery by the workshops of TNS – Théâtre national de Strasbourg
LACRIMA by Caroline Guiela Nguyen is published by edizioni Actes Sud
a TNS – Théâtre national de Strasbourg production
co-produced with Festival TransAmériques, La Comédie – Centre national dramatique de Reims, Points communs – Nouvelle scène nationale de Cergy-Pontoise, Théâtres de la Ville du Luxembourg, Centro Dramático Nacional de Madrid, Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa, Wiener Festwochen | Freie Republik Wien, Théâtre de Liège, Théâtre National de Bretagne, Centre dramatique national, Festival d’Avignon, Les Hommes Approximatifs
with the contribution of Odéon - Théâtre de l’Europe, Théâtre Ouvert – Centre national des dramaturgies contemporaines (CNDC), Maison Jacques Copeau, Musée des Beaux-arts et de la Dentelle d’Alençon, Atelier-Conservatoire National du Point d’Alençon, Institut Français de New Delhi and Alliance française de Mumbai
Recommended for audiences aged 16 and over
Some scenes include moments of physical and psychological violence
A show in French with scenes in Tamil, English and sign language with Italian and English subtitles
