La Gouineraie / Der Lesbengarten

Whilst Sandra desperately tries to build as many little houses as possible out of scrap wood, Rébecca arrives from the city to give country life a go. Surrounded by building materials, wallpaper and everyday objects, they ponder what role each of them might play in their new home and their new family.

The audience bears witness to their attempts to recreate a perfect family – amidst moments of celebration, loneliness, fantasy and failure. One after the other, they ask each other questions about the family they have inherited, the one they have invented, and the one they have chosen for themselves.

In doing so, they offer no ready-made solutions, but invite the audience to join in the search: how can families be formed when one is white, living with her ex, their shared children and her ex’s new family, whilst the other is Black, lives in the city and spends more time in the theatres of France and Navarre than in her own flat?

With mischievous humour, they revisit the Catholic iconography of the Holy Family. In a lavish, chaotic theatrical mix that mirrors their lives, they take delight in reassembling traditional, patriarchal, white, heterosexual ‘family models’. Just like in a television series spanning several seasons, their reflections can take a different turn at any moment.

(French / with German and English surtitles)