La voix de ma grand-mère

Her many talents took centre stage at the latest Avignon Festival. Having come to the theatre via music, Vanasay Khamphommala shares an attempt to sing a duet with her Laotian grandmother, whom she never knew. A poetic documentary exploration in the form of a ritual. Born over a century ago, this ancestor left behind nothing but the memory of a woman who died prematurely and a young son. It is in the company of this son, now a father himself – her own son – that Vanasay Khamphommala embarks on a deeply personal quest to find her grandmother’s ‘voice’. Gathered around an altar set upon a multicoloured carpet, the audience accompanies this duo as if on a journey. As for the ‘voice’, it is a polyphony of sound and image that takes shape through gleaned recordings, music, luminous scenery and tales of the Laotian diaspora. Through a conversation that explores the question of a heritage filtered through the lens of exile and assimilation, Vanasay and Somphet Khamphommala gently and humorously reweave a bond that time and space have unravelled. A ritual that is both light-hearted and profound, where each person’s memory will find the means to heal.