Saïgon, a laboratory of theatrical creolisation

Language, Memory and Tears in Caroline Guiela Nguyen’s Theatre

Abstract

This article examines Saïgon, a performance by Caroline Guiela Nguyen and the company Les Hommes Approximatifs, which was presented at the 71st Avignon Festival in 2017. Of Vietnamese origin, director Caroline Guiela Nguyen intertwines private memories and historical narratives on stage to explore the themes of exile and the wounds of the colonial past. More broadly, she examines the processes through which identity, society and culture are constructed. The article suggests interpreting Saïgon as a laboratory of scenic creolisation, where language, memory and emotion interact to reconfigure the postcolonial experience. The Vietnamese restaurant, the sole setting of the performance, is interpreted as an affective archive in which colonial history, separation and return are reactivated through fragmented narratives and embodied memories. Melodrama and tears do not merely function as emotional effects; they emerge as genuine devices for transmitting historical trauma in a sensory form that goes beyond the purely discursive. The analysis also focuses on Nguyen’s creative process, which is based on long-term immersion, active listening to testimonies, and transforming biographical materials into shared fiction. Thus, Saïgon emerges as a space of risk and connection, where opacity, translation and emotional excess contribute to the creation of new theatrical communities and unprecedented forms of collective memory.