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2 June 2024
World premiere Wiener Festwochen: Caroline Guiela Nguyen's 'Lacrima' is less about the fashion world than about violence in private life
Fashion.at rarely goes to the theater, even though it's sometimes not expensive or even doesn't cost a cent as a journalistic medium. There are only a few very good productions. Fashion.at publisher Karin Sawetz experienced many bad productions during her studies of theater, film and media. As a student in a social group of set and costume designers, authors and aspiring critics, the relatively good seats in theaters were affordable thanks to the so-called 'Director's Cards'. Such cards were also given to the two young women who were seated next to Fashion.at (on a free ticket as a journalistic medium) at the world premiere of the play 'Lacrima' in the set of a French haute couture atelier. By the way, the women laughed several times and were well entertained by the piece as far as Fashion.at noticed. The play was written and directed by Caroline Guiela Nguyen, a former sociology student who graduated from the National Theater School of Strasbourg. Since 2023, she is the director of the school as well as the Théâtre National de Strasbourg. Caroline Guiela Nguyen's work combines different media such as film and radio. 'Lacrima' had its pre-premiere on May 14th at the TNS, the Théâtre National de Strasbourg. About two weeks later, on May 30th, the official world premiere took place at the Wiener Festwochen in one of the prominent halls of the Museumsquartier, which has been one of the epicenters of culture in Vienna since the early 80s (at that time under its former name Messepalast). Fashion.at has attended several events here - from theater performances to concerts. One of the most memorable was a concert by Soft Cell's British singer Marc Almond in the early 1980s, who sang a cappella as the technology broke down and the acoustics of the hall allowed his voice to fully unfold in the lyrics of love and heartbreak.
Love and heartbreak are also the main themes of the story, which takes place in a French haute couture atelier and revolves around them in various layers. Caroline Guiela Nguyen added another emotional component to the plot – a passion for the fashion crafts, which becomes the acid test in the play. It turns out that the story of the making of a wedding dress is only the common thread that weaves the story of love - or not - between family members across generations and the willingness to give something up for someone. The director of the atelier is the leading person in this play. She has to manage her business and at the same time her relationship with her aggressive husband and her young adult daughter, who needs her mother more than the work of the studio director allows. The levels of the play around the making of a wedding dress - Caroline Guiela Nguyen was inspired by Princess Di's wedding dress and the secret that was made before it was shown on the big day - are many and very realistic. The artisans of the haute couture pieces are, as in real life, located all over the world, and the presentation of the fashion industry, which is not the only industry with non-disclosure agreements, is plausible. These are not the reasons for the title 'Lacrima' (translated 'tear'), nor the situation of the artisans, as some might expect. That would be complaining on a high level. These artisans are in the Olympus of fashion craftsmanship in a working environment where single pieces can cost 80,000 Euros and more, as in the case of an exclusive wedding dress, and they are not starving or in a situation where they cannot afford the monthly living expenses like some others who work full-time in fashion or other industries. 'Lacrima' plays on the nice side of the fashion world. But this fashion environment is only the grid for the weaving of the different storylines of personal relationships over generations in different families and how each player's private life is inevitably linked to the world of work and becomes in one way or another part of the project, the wedding dress.
The story, the set, the combination of film elements and the radio interview situation - the scene reminded Fashion.at of 'Radio Chanel' as part of the Cruise 2024/25 show last month - the music, the quality of the actors' performances - everything was perfect. Everything a theatergoer could expect - technically as from the schoolbook, but with the creative power of an author and director who brings new dimensions to the stage with digital media such as online video conferencing and WhatsApp messages to create a play about psychological violence that happens every day in families and at work. Only Fashion.at had to leave the theater during the first intermission after about two hours. With all sympathy for this play, for the actors, for the direction - it was too long-winded. There is no need to extend the plot to three hours. Just one example: The scene showing a craftsman sewing beads onto a cloth was just too long. Telling the story of the time-consuming work of haute couture would also have reached the audience in a shorter time. But fortunately for this production, Fashion.at's impression was not shared by the press or the audience. 'Lacrima' received positive reviews, for example from the daily newspaper Der Standard, which reported that there were standing ovations at the end of the performance https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000222356/hintergrundgeschichten-aus-der-welt-der-haute-couture-in-lacrima.
In the small booklet handed out at the entrance to the auditorium, Caroline Guiela Nguyen talks in an interview about the development of 'Lacrima' and her future project to continue the play as a film series. Hopefully without the lengths of the stage production.
In addition, Fashion.at hopes to receive invitations for press tickets to the Wiener Festwochen in the future; Fashion.at's favorite city festival.
Unfortunately it wasn't allowed to take a picture. The stage design as mentioned above was great - including the placement of the video screen, which is the junction of the various threads of the story to bring people from all over the world together.
Image (courtesy Wiener Festwochen): 'Lacrima' Caroline Guiela Nguyen. Photo: © Jean Louis Fernandez.
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