Avignon festival 2006 asobu popes palace

The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival (), is an annual

arts festival An arts festival is a festival that can encompass a wide range of art forms including music, dance, film, fine art, literature, poetry and is not solely focused on visual arts. Arts festivals may feature a mixed program that include music, lit ...

held in the French city of

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

every summer in July in the courtyard of the

Palais des Papes The ( English: Palace of the Popes; ''lo Palais dei Papas'' in Occitan) in Avignon, Southern France, is one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe. Once a fortress and palace, the papal residence was a seat of We ...

as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vilar, it is the oldest existent festival in France. Alongside the official festival, the "In" one, a number of shows are presented in Avignon at the same time of the year and are known as the "Off". In 2008, some 950 shows were performed during three weeks.

The Birth of a Festival

1947, The Week of Scenic Arts

Art critic Christian Zervos and poet René Char organized a modern art exhibition held in the main chapel of the Pope's Palace in Avignon. In that setting, they asked Jean Vilar, actor, director, theatre director, and future festival founder, to present ''Meurtre dans la cathédrale'' which he adapted in 1945. After refusing, Vilar proposed three plays:

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's Richard II, a play almost unknown in France at that time, La Terrasse de midi, by Maurice Clavel, then unknown author, and '' L'Histoire de Tobie et de Sara'' by

Paul Claudel Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Early lif ...

The "In" Festival

The festival is organised by a non-profit organisation (since 1980), which is administered by a board of trustees composed of: the French state, the city of Avignon, the ''

Département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.

, the '' Région''

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...

, and seven public figures competent in the field of theatre. Amongst other places, the "In" Festival is performed in the "Cour d'Honneur" – the honours courtyard – of the

, the place of residence of the Avignon papacy during most of the 14th century.

The "Off" Festival

The "Off" festival is also organised by a non-profit organisation composed mostly of theatre companies and is performed in theaters schools, streets and all places suitable for performing.

History

The ''Festival d'Avignon'' was founded by Jean Vilar in 1947. He was invited to present his first great successful play – Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot in the Palace of the Popes. At the same moment and at the same place, an exhibition of contemporary paintings and sculptures was organized by Christian Zervos, an art critic and collector, and by René Char, the poet. Vilar initially refused the invitation, as for him the Cour d'Honneur of the Pope's Palace was too vast and "shapeless" and he also lost the performance rights of the play. However, he proposed three creations: Shakespeare's Richard II, one of Bard's plays that was little known at the time in France; Paul Claudel's ''Tobie et Sara'' ('Tobie and Sara'), and Maurice Clavel's second play, ''La Terrasse de Midi'' ('The Midday Terrace'). The first ''Festival d'Avignon'' in September 1947 set the scene as a showcase for unknown work and modern scripts. Upon obtaining initial success, the festival began enjoying the contribution of many young talents. Among the actors and actresses invited by Vilar, one finds the following: Jean Négroni, Germaine Montero, Alain Cuny, Michel Bouquet, Jean-Pierre Jorris, Silvia Montfort, Jeanne Moreau, Daniel Sorano, Maria Casarès, Philippe Noiret, Monique Chaumette, Jean Le Poulain, Charles Denner, Jean Deschamps, Georges Wilson, and Gérard Philipe. The festival's success grew, in spite of criticisms, which were at times virulent. Vilar's idea of a "popular theatre" moved critics to refer to Vilar as "Stalinist", "fascist", "populist", or "cosmopolitan". On the other hand, Vilar's conception of the theatre remained conservative with respect to competing conceptions developed especially in the course of the 1960s. On the crest of the wave of contemporary tendencies to revolutionize theatrical practices, in 1966 Avignon's Théâtre des Carmes, co-founded by André Benedetto and Bertrand Hurault, staged a festival "Off", unofficial and independent. The following year, Benedetto's theatre was joined by other kindred theatrical companies. In response to the "Off" challenge, in 1967 Jean Vilar gave rise to the festival of ''La Cour d'honneur du Palais des papes'' ("Court of Honor of the Popes' Palace"). Thenceforth, numerous further sites will be chosen to stage the festival's theatrical representations. Vilar directed the festival until his death in 1971. In that year, Vilar's "In" festival included thirty-eight shows. In 1991, two years after

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

’s death, a French judge ruled that productions of ''

Waiting for Godot ''Waiting for Godot'' ( or ) is a 1953 play by Irish writer and playwright Samuel Beckett, in which the two main characters, Vladimir (Waiting for Godot), Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters w ...

'' with female casts would not cause excessive damage to Beckett's legacy, and allowed the play to be performed by the all-female cast of the Brut de Beton theater company at the festival, although an objection by Beckett's representative had to be read before each performance.

2020 edition and COVID-19 pandemic

The 2020 edition was cancelled because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Strikes during the Festival

Due to the anti-authoritarian protest movements of May 1968, the 22nd edition of the Festival of Avignon hosted virtually no French shows, halving the number of planned shows down from a total of 83. Relatively unaffected were the shows of the "Living Theatre", Maurice Béjart's representations at the Court of Honor, as well as various film viewings taking advantage of that same year's cancellation of the Festival of Cannes. Béjart's show of 19 July in the Court of Honor was disrupted by Saul Gottlieb, a viewer who entered the stage to order Béjart to halt his show. Towards the end of the show, the comedians of the "Théâtre du Chêne Noir," from the "Off" festival, erupted on the scene, forcing Béjart's dancers to improvise around them. In 2003, a total of 750 shows were anticipated, prior to the festival's being cancelled for the year due to strikes by the show business's "casual workers" ("intermittents") protesting to reform indemnification laws. Approximately one hundred of the "Off" festival's shows were cancelled, as well. On 3 July 2014, the festival committee voted by a 224–110 margin (4 votes of abstention) in favor of a strike during the event in support of the recent claims of the intermittent workers about their unemployment insurance.

Research archives

Archives on the works of Jean Vilar and the totality of the 3,000 representations programmed by the Festival of Avignon since its 1947 debut are conserved at Maison Jean-Vilar, located in Avignon at 8, rue de Mons, Montée Paul-Puaux. The Maison houses most notably a library, videotheque, expositions and database. The Association Jean Vilar publishes the review journal, Les Cahiers Jean Vilar, which inscribes the thought of the festival's ideator in a resolutely contemporary context, analysing the place of theatre in society, as well as political stakes involved in theatrical production.

References

External links

Avignon Festival website

Avignon "Off" theater festival website

Festival d'Avignon 2011 Dossier by Radio France Internationale English Service
{{DEFAULTSORT:Festival D'avignon Theatre festivals in France Tourist attractions in Avignon Provence Arts festivals in France Tourist attractions in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Annual events in France 1947 establishments in France Festivals established in 1947