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The stated ambition of this 73rd edition of the Avignon Festival is to share " the joy of being together ". The biggest meeting of the theater opens this Thursday, July 4th in the evening with Architecture . In the majestic courtyard of the Palace of the Popes, the director Pascal Rambert summons the drama of a neurotic family, like Europe today.
Architecture is a metaphor for a Europe that goes wrong and at the same time gives the ethical and aesthetic reasons to fight for it. On stage, for three and a half hours, Emmanuelle Béart, Arthur Nauzyciel, Stanislas Nordey, Denis Podalydes and Jacques Weber will give substance to the hopes and desperation of this torn family of artists.
Outside , the talking absence of Kirill Serebrennikov
Long held under house arrest and still struck by a ban on leaving Moscow, following accusations of embezzlement deemed by many to be " delusional ", the place of Russian filmmaker and director Kirill Serebrennikov will remain empty during the festival.
His Outside piece will take place in Vedène, the other scene of Grand Avignon. Because even at a distance, this freethinker is able to make a sensation with his show around the Chinese photographer and poet Ren Hang, who committed suicide in 2017, " in protest ", remarks Olivier Py, director of the festival.
► Also to listen : The director Pascal Rambert, our Guest Culture of 4/7/2019
In Points of No Return , Franco-Romanian Alexandra Badea will assemble and dismount at the Benedict XII theater the official story of the massacre of Algerians in Paris on October 17, 1961.
At Vernet College Court, Brazilian singer-guitarist Tigana Santana will echo the themes of censorship and colonization. And Blandine Savetier is in charge of making live in 13 acts the Odyssey of Homer in the garden of the library Ceccano.
Relations between Congo and Belgium
The choreography Outwitting The Devil by Akram Khan will make the second half of the festival vibrate in the Papal Palace Courtyard. Faustin Linyekula will question the history of his country and the historical relations between Congo and Belgium.
The Ivorian Yacouba Konaté will tell in the musical tale Young Yacou his story marked by the war. The Burkinabe choreographer Salia Sanou will present his new creation And you will be there .
► See also : Theater - the challenge of social networks
Proud of its artists renewing theatrical writing every year and opening new experimental ways, the Festival d'Avignon is also proud of its spectators - " extremely faithful and militant " - who aspire to live for three weeks an intense experience.
Previous editions have shown that a third of the public still attends more than five performances of the "In" (for prices ranging between 10 and 40 euros) and 10% of them come from abroad. Even more surprising, according to a survey of the University of Avignon, 64% of festival goers are women.
A festival proud of its spectators
With a current proportion of 18% of 15-30 years at the 2018 edition, the commitment of director Olivier Py to youth (including the offer "four shows for 40 euros") is therefore bearing fruit, not to mention that " 20% of the public [adult] earns less than the median wage ", € 1,710 per month.
And even if you turn off your laptop during shows, the digital revolution is also progressing in the theater world. Last year, 90% of festival goers connected to the internet and 75% to a social network during their stay in the city of the popes.
The 2019 edition is aimed more at both the excluded and the excluded, with a new application giving real-time users places available. And for the first time, there will be for four shows connected glasses available for the deaf and hard of hearing, displaying a surtitling proposed in English and French.
► The program of the 73rd Festival d'Avignon, from July 4th to 23rd.