The Avignon Festival is over for this year.

And 2021 was special: this edition was placed under the sign of reunion, since the festival was canceled last year because of the coronavirus.

The director of the event, Olivier Py, was invited to Europe 1 on Monday to tell about these "moving" meetings.

INTERVIEW

"A heroic edition" has just ended.

These are the words of Olivier Py, the director of the Avignon festival, about the 2021 edition. The curtain was lowered Sunday evening on the last performances, at the end of three weeks marked by the reunion between the theater, actors and the public.

Visitors to the city of the Popes, with more than 100,000 spectators for 45 pieces.

Olivier Py was the guest on Monday morning of Europe 1 to take stock of this edition.

"We applauded the renaissance of the festival"

“From the reception to the technique, it was a very complicated issue,” says Olivier Py at the microphone of Europe 1. We constantly had to adapt to health standards.

First, that of imposed gauges and compulsory masks.

And then, at the last moment, since July 21, theaters with more than 50 seats had to be equipped with a QR code reader to check the health pass.

The director of the famous theater festival assures him: "Everyone had to put in an extra effort."

>> Find the Tête-à-tête every day at 7.40 am on Europe 1 as well as in replay and podcast here

This edition marked by the return of the sixth art to the city of the Popes was "extremely moving", according to Olivier Py.

"The festival opens with Maurice Jarre's famous trumpets. As soon as they sounded on the first evening, the audience unanimously applauded. What does that mean? We were applauding the renaissance of the festival, perhaps, beyond the festival, the hope of returning very quickly to a normal life, "he marveled.

More than 100,000 spectators 

And the spectators did not desert Avignon for this recovery.

More than 100,000 festival-goers were present, not to mention the 20,000 free admissions, almost as many as in 2019, the 2020 edition having been canceled.

The biggest success:

La Cerisaie

, a play by Anton Tchekhov directed by the Portuguese Tiago Rodrigues and starring Isabelle Huppert.

>> Find the morning show of the day in replay and podcast here

It is also Tiago Rodrigues who will succeed Olivier Py in September 2022 at the head of the festival.

For the current director of the Avignon festival, "Tiago Rodrigues is an extraordinary man who has made the National Theater of Lisbon a beacon of the life of the spectacle in Europe".

"It's a very good choice. It's very happy for the festival", concludes Olivier Py.

For theater lovers, already nostalgic, this edition is not completely over.

The three blows will sound until July 31 in the halls of the private theaters of the city of the Popes, which are still in full Festival Off.