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"The Republic of the Bees", "£ ¥ € $", "Philosopher Macbeth", here are some titles on display in the 2019 edition of the largest theatrical event in Europe. The program, unveiled this Thursday, March 28 in Paris, offers between July 4 and 23, 280 performances in the city of the Popes. Interview with Olivier Py, director of the Festival d'Avignon, about a program dedicated to the themes of exile and odyssey, from Homère to Serebrennikov, but especially to his audience "extremely militant" who "likes to ask questions" and which inspired him to define the phenomenon of "silence of the room".
RFI: The program of the Avignon Festival 2019 will be marked by the themes of exile and odyssey. What is the idea behind?
Olivier Py: The Odyssey of Homer is a great story that he built us through the odyssey or odyssey. It is at the same time the theme of the exile, the migrant, the Mediterranean, the tragedy of the migrants in the Mediterranean, but also the construction of Europe. Many artists wonder what it is to be European today, if it still has value. How is the 20th century still weighing on our present today? And then, there is the theme of the trip. The Festival is international, so it is a trip and it is made of meetings with foreigners. That said, this very simple thing: we only build ourselves by talking to strangers.
► To read also: "To be multiple-s", Salia Sanou to Francophonies in Limousin
Pascal Rambert will open the Palace of the Popes' Court of Honor with Architecture , a play that tells the painful story of a family that resembles that of Europe. From a theatrical point of view, what is the current state of the European house?
Architecture is about a family, a neurotic family, but this family is a metaphor for the European family. At the moment, Europe is not doing well. It's not a secret. Perhaps you have to wonder where it comes from and why it is still necessary or why is it still necessary to fight for it today. This is what Pascal Rambert does in this piece.
You also invite an absent: Kirill Serebrennikov, the Russian director will present to Avignon Outside , an ironic title referring to the fact that he is still under house arrest. Serbrennikov was already at the center of attention at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival with his film Leto . He has just created, at a distance, the opera Nabucco in Hamburg. And now he is supposed to create by interposed assistant, by skype or by correspondence, this piece for Avignon. What is waiting for us?
Serebrennikov is still under house arrest, that is to say, in prison at home, awaiting the verdict of his trial which is a delusional trial, since he is accused of embezzlement completely embaladabrant. The truth is, in my opinion, that he is accused of being a dissident. We told ourselves he would come to the Festival d'Avignon in this edition. His trial is very long, because it takes place only some days a month. For the Avignon Festival, he works on Ren Hang, a Chinese photographer and poet who committed suicide in 2017, in protest. So, there is a kind of brotherly relationship between these two people and I continue to hope that Kirill Serebrennikov will be present at the Festival.
► See also: "Leto", a Russian and rebellious "Summer" by Kirill Serebrennikov
Among the pieces from Africa, there is the musical tale Le Jeune Yacou where Ivorian Yacouba Konaté recounts her autobiographical story marked by the war and by her transit through the Choucha refugee camp in Tunisia. The Burkinabe choreographer Salia Sanou will present among others his new creation And you will be there . Also on view: Faustin Linyekula. What will this Congolese choreographer teach us about the History (s) of the Theater ?
Story (s) of the Theater is a cycle launched by the director Milo Rau that he started himself. Then, he devolved the other episodes to other choreographers and directors in which he asks to question the origin of his vocation. Faustin Linyekula's vocation was a dance performance he saw on Zairean television, because at the time it was Zaire. In his play, he returns to this dance show which was not devoid of supposed colonialists. He met the senior dancers of this ballet who impressed him so much. So, he questions both the history of his country, the relations between Congo and Belgium, and at the same time his own history.
In your editorial dedicated to the 2019 edition, you mention the phenomenon of "silence of the room". What is it about ?
The silence of the hall is perhaps one of the most beautiful things, because silence opens the possibilities. But we should not imagine that the silence of the room is a room that is silent, on the contrary. The paradox is that this silence of the room is the moment when she begins to speak, to remember the pages of her collective identity. It's a moment of extraordinary bond. The paradox is that it is a link that is built precisely by silence. Now, I find, sometimes, in the contemporary hypermedia and hyperconnected world, there is a lot of vociferation, there is a lot of shouting, polemics. Silence is also a way to be together.
► Official site of the 73rd Festival d'Avignon, from July 4th to 23rd, 2019