Theater - Tonight I Have a Fever, and You're Freezing

By reviving a legendary radio show from the 1980s, Julien Lewkowicz explores a historic period in the gay community. Archival audio clips and fictional text intertwine, bringing to life an era when freedom of expression knew no bounds.


September 1989. The final episode of the show *Lune de Fiel* on Radio Fréquence Gaie, before the program was permanently canceled. For nearly an hour, calls from listeners discussing their sex lives come one after another, veering into laughter, wild antics, and sometimes vulgarity. In the studio, the hosts give the floor to gay men and lesbians who, for the first time, collectively assert their right to live out their sexuality openly. Julien Lewkowicz draws on some rediscovered archival material to bring these authentic testimonies to light, enriching them with his own writing—imagining, in a fictional text, the feelings that might have driven the show’s characters and delving into what might have lain hidden behind the excess and the laughter. The reflections, presented as monologues, then take on a more serious, clearer, and deeper tone. Freedom of speech—a challenge to our current imagination—unflinchingly addresses the tragedy of AIDS. Moving back and forth between the boisterous archives of a radio show and moments of introspection, the performance by Julien Lewkowicz—who was a member of the young troupe #2—also captures the era through music, when house and techno met Dalida and Claude François.