Geography: Europe > Western Europe > France
Year: 2017
Produced by: Les Hommes Approximatifs; co-produced with Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe, La Comédie de Valence, MC2 Grenoble, Festival d’Avignon and others
Creative Team: Directed by Caroline Guiela Nguyen; dramaturgy by Jérémie Scheidler and Manon Worms
Synopsis: Caroline Guiela Nguyen’s SAIGON is a large-scale polyphonic theatre work moving between France and Vietnam. Set in a Vietnamese restaurant, the production alternates between Saigon in 1956, during the final year of French withdrawal from Indochina, and Paris in 1996, when the Vietnamese government allowed people to return to their country of birth. In its realist form, the production builds a cinematic and intimate social world where food and music are shared in their cultural contexts and their historical weight. Exploring the Vietnamese movement to France after colonial conflict, the production challenges a narrow idea of national identity, showing how France is shaped by its colonial histories and affective loss.
Source: Les Hommes Approximatifs, Production Page for SAIGON: https://www.leshommesapproximatifs.com/creation/saigon/ Piccolo Teatro, Event Listing for SAIGON: https://www.piccoloteatro.org/en/2023-2024/saigon