Les ombres et les lèvres

It all began with a research trip to Vietnam, a country in South-East Asia where Confucian culture, authoritarian communism and the market economy intersect. In recent years, many initiatives have emerged focusing on the visibility of same-sex couples, the fight against homophobia, the right to marriage for all, and so on. In the cultural sphere, young artists are creating some of their work around these issues, and activists are using theatre in particular to shift the government’s stance. This has met with some success, as the country has moved from an outright condemnation of homosexuality to a relative openness on these issues. But beyond collective activism, what particularly interested Marine Bachelot Nguyen during this trip was the socio-political private lives of young gay, lesbian and transgender people, which she seeks to explore through the numerous interviews she conducted whilst there. What is their daily life like? What are their experiences? How do they choose to be visible or invisible? What strategies do they employ to deal with homophobia? What are their aspirations? Drawing on these encounters, interviews and other materials and documents she gathered, she will write Les ombres et les lèvres, a play that straddles the boundaries between documentary and fiction.