Deprived of its emblematic theater and performing arts festival because of the Covid-19, Avignon still tries to feel the thrill of the stage. Admittedly, its alleys are empty and silent. Unlike usual, there are no costume artists wandering around to promote their show. Even the courtyard of the Palace of the Popes is deserted. However, the festival survives in the cloister every evening, thanks to readings. "It is a sounding board for the festival. We told ourselves that we could not completely extinguish it," said Friday on Europe 1 Serge Barbuscia, president of the Avignon Scenes which carry this initiative.
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Concretely, the Balcon, Carmes, Chêne noir, Chien Chien Fume and Halles theaters are organizing a reading cycle from July 16 to 23 in the cloister of the Palais des Papes. On the program: 14 readings, with around fifty actors.
"Rediscovering the theater, the whisper of the theater"
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"We imagined this project in the place of origin, where the theater was born. We said to ourselves that we had to go back to this place to at least hear texts, make actors speak, to find the theater , the murmur of the theater ", explains Serge Barbuscia. "The idea is to make contemporary texts heard, nine will be unpublished, but also to show solidarity with the artists; many of them should have been programmed in our theaters this summer," explains the Scènes d ' Avignon on their site. For the detailed program of these "readings", it's here.
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Elsewhere in the city, too, the theater survives. Losing yourself in the alleys, you can sometimes hear the applause of the ten independent theaters that have chosen to offer performances. "It is an act of resistance and then, too, we want to," says Fabienne Govaerts, director of the Verb Fou. "A damn that we caught the virus of the festival, we can not jump a year, it is not possible. It is important to take back the hair of the beast."
"We must support theaters that make efforts"
Despite this drop-by-drop programming, the public of diehards is delighted. "We had made reservations to come to the Festival, we decided to come anyway and we are very happy that some of them continued to do shows. We have to come and support theaters that are making efforts," said the spectator.
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In total, fifteen days of shows are planned so that the festival does not fall asleep completely by next year.