Théâtre National de Strasbourg (TNS)

• Directed by Caroline Guiela Nguyen
• Text Caroline Guiela Nguyen
• Cast Dan Artus, Dinah Bellity, Natasha Cashman, Charles Vinoth Irudhayaraj, Anaele Jan Kerguistel, Maud Le Grevellec, Liliane Lipau, Nanii, Rajarajeswari Parisot, Vasanth Selvam Artistic Collaboration Paola Secret
• Stage Design Alice Duchange
• Costume Design Benjamin Moreau
• Lighting Design Mathilde Chamoux, Jérémie Papin
• Sound Design Antoine Richard
• Video Design Jérémie Scheidler
• Music Jean-Baptiste Cognet, Teddy Gauliat-Pitois, Antoine Richard
• Casting Lola Diane
• Translation Nadia Bourgeois, Carl Holland, Rajarajeswari Parisot (Sign Language, English and Tamil)

Age Limit: +13

Lasts approx 175’; no interval

The main language is French with parts in Tamil, English, and French Sign Language; with Turkish surtitles

Some scenes contain representations of physical and psychological violence.

How many stories are hidden in a perfect stitch?

Following its premiere at the Avignon Festival, this striking production has been invited to leading stages and festivals around the world, from Canada to Australia, including Odéon–Théâtre de l’Europe, Barbican, Schaubühne, BAM, and has received standing ovations at every venue. Lacrima will open the 30th edition of the Istanbul Theatre Festival.

Paris, 2025. Behind the closed doors of haute couture, an extraordinary wedding dress commissioned for a British princess sets in motion a global production process that connects lives, stretching from a fashion house in Paris to lace workshops in Alençon, and from there to embroidery artisans in Mumbai.

Lacrima, meaning ‘tear’ in Latin, focuses on the ethical responsibilities and invisible labour involved in production. The play reveals how the ideals we think give purpose to our lives can consume us through the established relationship between labor and aesthetics. Bringing to light the world behind glittering shop windows, Lacrima invites us to rethink the meaning of living and creating.

With a cross-cultural and simultaneous narrative structure, Lacrima builds towards a powerful finale, as it follows the process of fabric-making that unfolds over thousands of hours, stitch by stitch.

Caroline Guiela Nguyen, one of the most visionary directors on the international stage and the first female director in the history of the Théâtre National de Strasbourg (TNS), draws the audience into a finely woven, immersive narrative.

'To the people who make the world beautiful…'
—Caroline Guiela Nguyen, director

'Lacrima reminds us of the works of Wajdi Mouawad, Robert Lepage, or Ariane Mnouchkine.'
—Christian Saint-Pierre, Le Devoir

'We follow the progression of this tale as if watching a series. This resemblance is a conscious choice. We travel from one city to another... The director leaves the audience free in their thoughts without making a judgment or pursuing a moral purpose.'
—Manuel Piolat Soleymat, La Terrasse

'Gripping saga of a wedding dress unravels fashion industry exploitation'
—Arifa Akbar, The Guardian

'We move from Paris to Alençon, then to Mumbai, unravelling the threads of this creation.'
—London Macadam

'Epic in scale, this is a production like no other, a monument of 21st Century Theatre.'
—Broadway World

Caroline Guiela Nguyen
One of the most important contemporary figures in French theater, she is currently the first female director in the history of the National Theatre of Strasbourg (TNS). Of Algerian, Vietnamese and Indian heritage, she reflects this multicultural identity in her work through a collective, choral approach. Intertwining political realities with individual and intimate dramas in her stories, Nguyen is known for large-scale productions such as Saigon, Fraternité, and most recently Lacrima. She conceives the theater stage as a collective memory space where different languages and those often rendered invisible find their voices, and has developed a contemporary narrative language rooted in reality that encourages ethical reflection.

Tickets go on general sale on Wednesday, 22 April at 10.30. A priority booking period for Black, White and Red Tulip Card members will begin at 10.30 on Tuesday, 21 April.