Mille Zhong & Alissia Pervozvanski-Dangles bring their show, Le Grand Soir, to the Voila! Festival this month.
“My Dad would kill me if he knew I was on a lesbian parody of a Communist propaganda poster. Would he be right?”
“Mille and Alissia have a lot in common: lesbianism, Dads who live in former Communist-turned-Capitalist-Dictatorship countries thousands of kilometres away, an obsession for colour-sorted apps on their phones.
In this Sino-Russian version of Les Misérables meets Never Have I Ever, they invite you to a vibrant, biting and sincere celebration of daddy issues, queer friendships, Communist history… and multilingual forgiveness.
Expect some physical theatre, singing rituals, Russian pickles, Chinese jokes, and dramatic PowerPoints, as their explore their relationships with each other, their Dads, and politics. Ready for the ride?”
Where: Etcetera Theatre
When: 8-9 Nov
Ticket link: https://www.voilafestival.co.uk/events/le-grand-soir/
Tell me a bit about your show. Where did the idea come from?
Le Grand Soir is a 1h, interactive, multilingual theatre/performance show, exploring lesbian friendships, daddy issues, communist history… and (un)forgiveness.
The idea came from the random way we met each other, became friends, and realized how much our Dads were similar, giving us very specific, weird, common experiences that we hadn’t encountered in someone else before.
We found joy, quiet understanding and new perspectives in this bond, linking us – a French and Chinese drag performer and a French and Russian circus artist – in ways we didn’t expect.
Both our Mums are French, both our Dads live abroad in their country of origin, now capitalist but with a heavy communist background, both live with another family of their own, both are struggling to understand some of the things that matter to us and make us who we are – arts, queerness, communities.
We truly believe that one of the things we need today and that performance shows can bring to us is this sense of community, of belonging despite apparent differences: that is why we started working on Le Grand Soir.
Why should audiences choose your show? How would you sell it in one sentence?
Audiences should choose our show if they want to experience raw honesty, radical tenderness, and multilingual humour, because Le Grand Soir is first the story of a non-binary French and Chinese drag performer, and a French and Russian circus artist, both lesbian, both with heavy daddy issues, who are friends and trying to make sense of the world and of their families in a time where everything is on fire and nothing is fine.
At the intersection of all of this is our need for tenderness and forgiveness: beyond all the jokes, beyond all the pain, there is a clarity in what we choose to forgive and what we don’t.
Wanna see some Sino-Russian lesbian thespians help you experience clarity? Then join us in celebrating Le Grand Soir!
What does being part of the Voila! Festival mean to you?
To us, being part of The Voilà! Festival means connecting with multilingual shows and audiences, with migrant stories; bonding with people from all over the world; and trying to get in touch with the (queer) Chinese et Russian communities based in the UK, something we’re having a hard time doing back in France.
As international artists, being a part of Voilà is a great opportunity to take a bigger step into the British art industry, a chance to share our writing and our stories beyond frontiers.
This festival is also very special to us because it is the premiere of the show, and we can’t wait to see how audiences react to it!
We hope they can bring back home a little bit more of an understanding of the complexity and beauty of the mixed-race and/or migrant family experience.
How did you make a start in the industry?
The fun fact is: we didn’t exactly yet. At least not here; we are not based in London, not even in the UK – we actually live in Lyon, in the beginning of the South of France (it’s a heated French debate).
The company that we created after drama/literature school is based in Paris’ suburban area, and we just… live on a train – 88 mètres/seconde, the name of our company, is the speed of the French SNCF high speed trains!
Alissia works almost a full time job in a ceramic café, and Mille started applying to drag gigs in the UK because they were fed up with the way they work in France.
The first “start in the industry” that Mille did was an Avatar-themed drag show at the Divine in Dalston, thanks to the wonderful drag artist Mild Peril (and thanks to general geekness, as well as queer Asian drag random connections); and their first theatre gig was a monologue at The Bread&Roses Theatre V-Day.
One thing led to another, and from open stages, drag shows, and workshops, to fringe festivals, Mille started feeling way more welcomed and supported as an artist in London than in Paris or Lyon; and so we started building Le Grand Soir to do all the things that we felt we couldn’t do in France with our company. And now here we are!
What’s next for the show?
We’re not allowed to say it yet … but Le Grand Soir will be back to London in February – keep your eyes peeled on our Instagram for some exciting news!