Thierry de Pina Reveals His Background and Role of Marie-Pierre in “Le Mardi à Monoprix”

Hello my little ones! Hello to you all! Should only trans play the role of trans, that gay actors don't really devote themselves to defend? And by extrapolation, should we free, even temporarily serial killers, enough time to let them play serial killer roles? The question was raised at some point in the LGBTQIA+ community. And the answer is certainly to be found from Thierry de Pina's words,

a comedian who has to his list of achievements the beautiful story of Marie-Pierre. An encounter with a non trans actor who shares, through his personal journey, why the play, Tuesday at Monoprix (French equivalent of Target), inspired him and why, while not identifiying as trans, yet feels so close to Marie-Pierre. Confessions and emotions. Take a look. My name is Thierry de Pina,

I'm an actor and I'm starring in a play called, Tuesday at Monoprix, which is a monologue by Emmanuel Darley a beautiful piece on difference. It's the story of a woman named Marie-Pierre who goes to visit her dad every Tuesday because he's a widower and is very dependent. And every Tuesday, Marie-Pierre, who's a good girl, goes to visit him, clean his house, do the laundry,

ironing and, most importantly, she goes with her dad, to the local Monoprix in her childhood town. to restock the fridge until the following week. And every Tuesday, when Marie-Pierre pushes open the doors of Monoprix, everyone stares at Marie-Pierre, because she's beautiful, because she's tall, because she's elegant, but most of all, they look at her, because before, her name was Jean-Pierre...

So, the author wrote this piece with an inspiration from a scene he witnessed in a Monoprix. One day he went to Monoprix, where he saw a woman, who was with an elderly man, and everyone looked at this woman for what she was, for her difference, and the author, when he left, wrote this fiction around this character whom he had spotted in in one of his local Monoprix. So there you have it,

it's a beautiful piece about difference, how to stand up for yourself when you're different dealing with others' looks and how far you're willing to go to put up with a dependent parent, out of filial love, while this very parent refuses who you are? Since Marie-Pierre's father keeps calling his daughter Jean-Pierre...

I didn't really want to be a cliché with this character ; we're at the opposite end of Birds of a feather, the movie ; and I've actually chosen a suit that better illustrates the trans-identity problem more than the actual reality of this character. And indeed, I chose a dress by Jean-Paul Gaultier, two overlapping dresses to be precise,

a first dress, with printed naked male bodies, topped with a tulle dress on which is printed a naked woman's body and the superposition of these bodies man and woman, is precisely what makes this dress interesting, and, in fact, the pursuit of this body transformation, experienced by trans people. It's as if she didn't know who I am. She does know, who I am, who I was.

And who I am, as I am, henceforth. Yes, who I am,

just as I am... now! She'll grow despite transphobic insults she has received throughout her young life. And little by little, she discovers her female body, transform herself, put on this dress and become a woman. So she's really a woman, but remains in the mold, male body she had at birth. I'm at his place,

as it is now. And I wonder what he's thinking. I'm not going to put on an apron and act like a maid! What's funny about the script, is that Marie-Pierre will take care of all the chores for her dad. So housework, laundry, ironing, as a woman would do in a rather primitive world. In fact, the father has a very, very very, very old-fashioned image of women and indeed, he makes her, he makes his daughter,

do the housework since her mother left. What's quite amusing is that the father doesn't really accept transidentity and for all that, he accepts that his daughter, whom he doesn't recognize as a daughter, does the housework. He follows me from room to room, I go like this, even though. He says: - "Jean-Pierre"! "Bonjour, Jean-Pierre"! "Thank you, Jean-Pierre"! No, I say: - "Marie-Pierre"! I tell him... - "Jean-Pierre, period", he says!

- "Marie-Pierre, nothing else"! I told him over and over. - "Say it," I say! "Come on," I say! "Say it again!" I say: - "Marie-Pierre, Marie-Pierre, All right "? So the situation is quite conflictual between father and daughter. For all that, we can see that there's a lot of love between the father and the daughter, since we find out at one point that the father even spoke about his daughter to one of her friends. And here,

we finally say to ourselves, the father would accept his daughter, but he can't tell her. Even when he talks about childhood memories; there's a scene in a café where the father shares childhood memories; and they can't even to agree on it, because, quite simply, childhood memories, for Marie-Pierre, are nightmares, since they're memories of a little boy, so she's forgotten them,

and the father doesn't understand why all these memories have been erased. And even then, they can't quite agree on that. So there you have it, a love story that can't see the light of day between father and daughter. You're pissing me off! You're really pissing me off!

You can't see me! I don't exist! I'm transparent! What am I saying? What am I saying? Yes, at some point, we can imagine a certain father's guilt. Because in this scene in the café he's evoking memories, the father tells him : - "But you remember in '73, at her mother's house, and the two of us for four days, I don't remember how long,

everything we did, all those things we've seen together"? He recalls all these memories: - "But you remember"? "I taught you a lot of of things"! And Marie-Pierre is completely baffled, and it's clear that the father doesn't understand, what could he possibly have done for his son to have come to this? He asks: "Why did you do that? "Why did you do this to me"? "Is it really about your mother again"!

"Too much pampering"! I think it's very difficult too, for everyone, when you're dealing with a trans person in front of you, to use the right words, sometimes, we're in a bit of a bind, we use the wrong gender, or we say: - "he", "she", we don't know! It can be complicated. It's true that there's also that look, of others, a bit unwholesome,

to know, how far are they in their transition? So, it's true that often, there's the look that goes down to see if the transition has been complete. By the way, that's why I chose this dress too. I wanted to shed some light on the whole issue, and the nudity on the body at least, shows that Marie-Pierre is a woman inside, whether she's transitioned or not, that's not the point.

We're being looked at from all sides, shaken, turned over to find the little part there, that's not right. I was very inspired by this role because, not that I'm transidentitarian, but it's a wonderful message about difference and how to survive when you're different, how to assert yourself with your difference? This addresses the very sensitive subject of coming out because it's very difficult to come out

and it takes a lot, a lot, a lot of courage to do it. Marie-Pierre, not a chance. What he wants is Jean-Pierre! I hear him as if everything, he says: - "Give me back my Jean-Pierre! Give me back my Jean-Pierre"! "Go back to being the Jean-Pierre you were all those years ago"... "I don't know how many"?

- "It's over, all gone," I tell him. "Gone, body and soul, Jean-Pierre"! When I came to know I was homosexual, I asked myself at some point in my life about, was I born into the right gender? I lived in a small town of 10,000 inhabitants. I knew I was homosexual, but the examples of homosexuality I had around me, didn't fit with my identity at all. Anyway, those who identified

as homosexuals. So I said no, I'm not homosexual because I don't look like those boys. So maybe, maybe I'm a woman, a girl? And so, I did ask myself that question, even though it didn't last long and I wasn't faced with this whole transidentity issue. But still, it's true that I've started questioning my gender. Where did you get this idea? Is it your mother again?

This wondering about gender lasted maybe a year. It was time for me to understand my homosexuality, live it and have my first homosexual experiences. And that's when I realized that, yes, I wasn't a woman, but that I was a man who wanted men. I hear: - "A woman"! Yes, I am a woman! I've always been so on the inside, but they don't see it. Even as a kid, I was a girl inside, but nobody knew.

And now I'm just as I am, in broad daylight. I've made up my mind and that's the way it is. At one point there was some controversy around non-transidentitarians who were playing transidentitarian roles. It's true that it was a bit of a drag for the LGBTQIA+ community! And for all that, I think it's absolutely relevant to play roles like that, because you're already an actor, so you can learn to interpret roles of characters who are are not really us,

otherwise I'd only play homosexuals. And also, Emmanuel Darley's script, about transidentity, well, goes beyond transidentity, and addresses diversity, a universal subject, of difference. So I, myself, I still feel different. I've had a hard time coping with this difference, just like Marie-Pierre. So yes, I feel completely entitled to defend this. I've had to put up with the looks of others too, so I can absolutely understand Marie-Pierre.

I have a father who is a widower and dependent, so I can totally fit in the idea of that role. So no, I think, you don't have to be transidentitarian to play a part as a trans identitarian, especially since, it's not the main topic of the piece, since the primary theme of the piece, is to be different, and how to build yourself, when you're different, in the eyes of others. I hear: - "He". I hear: - "She". I hear: - "We don't know".

I hear: - "If it's not miserable"! It whispers here and there, nudging each other. I can hear... "Infamous! I feel all the more rightful to impersonate Marie-Pierre, than myself, I had a difficult coming out. More challenging than Marie-Pierre eventually, who really had a lot of courage, unlike me,

I came out rather late. I was 20 years old. I told my sister first, who asked me not to tell the rest of the family. So I lived with this hidden homosexuality. By the time I arrived in Paris, luckily then, I left my whole family back in the provinces, so I was able to live my homosexuality quite freely, but still hidden from the family. So it was always a torture,

when I would go back to see my brother and my parents, who would ask me if I had a girlfriend... So that was particularly painful for years! And it's true that I blamed quite a bit my sister for not letting me talk about it. Until one day I was fed up with it and I told my brother who himself asked me not to tell my parents. So here we were again, one or two years... Once again, denying who I was!

And maybe they asked me not to talk about it, knowing my father to protect me? But then, yes, maybe it was out of love, but still, it... ten years of my life quite hard to hide who I was from my parents. I remember the day, as it was, I came to meet them, him and her, both alive, not just him with his loneliness. I remember that day,

the first time we came to eat like this, transformed, as is. Until one day, my brother, finally announced my homosexuality to my parents! I didn't necessarily like it, because I felt robbed of my coming out. It wasn't that complicated, with my parents, since there was a brief year somewhat tricky and confusing.

He was very angry with me for hiding it for so long. My father, who had had rejected his homosexual brother when he was younger, totally accepted, my homosexuality. And besides, I think he had a lot of remorse for rejecting his brother. Dad couldn't understand why, we couldn't adopt children. He was even starting, to become vindictive about our rights. He didn't understand why we couldn't get married.

When there was marriage for all, he said: - "Finally"! So no, my father, who had rejected his homosexual brother when he was younger, totally accepted my homosexuality. I think it's better, right from the start, to affirm who you are, and then bear the consequences of that affirmation. He's getting closer to me. He's all up close to me. He says:

- "We can see your beard"! He says: - "Not what I would call a woman"! He says: - "What do you think"? "What do you think? Way too squared off! You're square-shaped, Jean-Pierre"! In conclusion, we could simply say, the sooner you can be yourself, the sooner... you can free yourself from other people's looks and judgment, the better we are and the less we have to deny our identity. So, it's important to, very quickly

agree to express who you are. While this is true for homosexuality, it's also valid for everything. I said: - "I never thought I'd see the day where I'd do your laundry." He says: - "All the same Jean-Pierre, a pair of pants, you could wear pants"!

- "My name is Marie-Pierre," I tell him! And I think Marie-Pierre is totally relieved to reveal who she is. She does it, she really means it in the play: "I am who I am now, I've decided and that's the way it is". She says this while looking in the mirror, proudly. And she wishes her father to be with her, and look at the others, and also tell them who she is. Except her father can't do it.

Did you know that Marie-Pierre is hiding two more heavy secrets and that I too have a secret of my own. To find out both of Marie-Pierre's secrets, I would simply, invite you to watch this wonderful one-man show by Thierry de Pina Upcoming shows for the play : Tuesday at Monoprix, are listed below this video on HappyGayTV.com. And now, come closer to the screen, because on my side,

I'd like you to do two things for me, or more exactly for the whole HappyGayTV team. The first one, the entire team is eager for your generosity and kindness. to leave us a video or audio message on our social network, our internal messaging system, the Hot-Line. We'd indeed be curious to know what you thought of this interview, or even of the play, if you've had the chance to watch it. Do you think Thierry de Pina was right

in taking on the role of Marie-Pierre or quite the opposite, do you think that only a trans person would have the right to represent this character? Let's hear it! Give us your impressions, but remember, no spoilers! We look forward to your comments. Second, if you liked this video, share it, to everyone around you who might be interested via e-mail, sms or even on social networks.

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take care and see you very soon on HappyGayTV, for new adventures. I love you! Ciao, ciao!