Avignon, France — After two years of pandemic-related turmoil, Avignon theater is really back in shape. The event, a long-standing highlight of the European theater calendar, started here last week, so there were familiar sights everywhere. Lively crowds filled the streets throughout the heart of the small city. Meanwhile, Brasse patrons zigzag among performers handing out leaflets of about 1,570 fringe works.
This is from last year when the open access fringe (known as “Luoff”, running in parallel with Avignon’s official program “Luin”) tried to re-enter after the 2020 edition was cancelled. There are also 500 more shows. .. While the number of cases of coronavirus has increased again in France this month, there were few even masks in the heat of Avignon.
In the “in” lineup, one world premiere better captured the noisy mood than any other premiere. Developed by Belgian artist Miet Warlop at the Belgian playhouse NT Gent, “One Song” is a bit annoying, but noisy, ridiculous and very entertaining. It requires superhuman feats from a group of musicians dressed like athletes. They are alternately cheered and screamed by performers cast as enthusiastic fans in front of the muttering referee.
The contrabass player plays the instrument horizontally while doing an ab crunch. One of his colleagues needs to jump up and down to reach the keyboard above him. The metronome sets the often wild tempo of a production “one song” composed by Maarten Van Cauwenberghe, whose group plays in a loop. It’s almost literally: its opening line is “Run for your life / until you die”.
Near the end of the performance I’ve seen, the physical extremes that Warlop pushes to perform the cast have become a bit too realistic. The violinist, playing on the high beam and sometimes balancing on one foot, was confused after jumping off the beam and hitting his head. Despite the danger of her concussion, she stood up and continued to move forward, her face tightened in pain.
When many of the cast were exhausted and collapsed and the show was over, the show’s momentary standing ovation was more than won, but still felt like a “The Hunger Games” to theater enthusiasts. .. Still, it is a classic Avignon work. It’s controversial until late at night.
Other works in the official lineup were not very lively, but together they honored the French writer and director Olivier Pie, the starting artistic leader of Avignon theater. His eight-year tenure felt confused by the lack of female directors at the event and the fight over some unexpected premierees on Avignon’s biggest stage.
This was especially true for his work at the outdoor Courdonour, a spectacular stage within the city’s Holy See. But this summer, Py modified the course with Kirill Serebrennikov’s “The Black Monk,” a high-profile and thought-provoking show.
Based on Anton Chekhov’s 1894 short story, “Black Monk” has no characteristics of the war. Despite its scale (4 parts, about 3 hours of execution time, 22 extended casts in Avignon), it is more personal than political in nature, and is largely a delusion of one man Kovrin. And focuses on the descent to the megalomaniac.
Each part of the show focuses on the perspective of a single character. First, there is Kobrin’s childhood guardian, Yegor. Then, Tanya, the daughter of Yegor, who marries Kobrin. He naturally makes a terrible husband, and in Part 3 and Part 4, his repetitive hallucinations-a black monk-take over the hearts of Stage and Kobrin.
The structure began to repeat along the way, resulting in some people leaving. Still, Celebrennikov is an all-black monk cowl, with a large chorus of singers and dancers, wisely pivoting to a more opera approach in the second half. The results properly fill the vast Cool Donour stage and prove Celebrennikov’s obvious craftsmanship and passion for the character, but the choreography is too general and works to the intended destination. Cannot be carried completely.
On other stages, the mood was dark as it was often under Py. Performed at Avignon’s opera house, “Ifigenia” nodded to the Portuguese writer and director Chiago Rodriguez, the successor to Pai. Director Anne Théron chose to tell Rodriguez the myth of Iphigenia in 2015 and sacrifice it in exchange for the wind needed to carry the Greeks across the sea to Troy. It’s a delicate and exciting version told by a character who remembers or refuses to remember a story, even if it happens, just as tragedy happens over and over again.
Child sacrifice, in a very different context, also appears in Bashar Murkus’s “Milk”. Haifa-based young Palestinian director Murkus saw breast milk as a central metaphor for this wordless work of mourning his mother. The women who put the cradle mannequins on the stage slowly and enthusiastically. Milk flows from the fake breasts they wear and eventually fills the stage. The result is full of fascinating tableau, despite the extraordinary sheet music.
However, for a vibrant and energetic theater, it’s best to delve into the miscellaneous fringe offerings. For example, this year, nine companies from France’s Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean gathered to present an exhilarating miniseries show.
One company, Sakidi, is performing Marivo’s “Game of Love and Coincidence.” This is a classic French comedy of the 18th century, performed in the Creole language (with subtitles) spoken by Reunion. Reunion Creole is rarely heard on the French stage. This cheerful rendition by Lolita Tergemina suggests that it took place at the Chapel du Verve Incarne Theater. The language is strongly influenced by French, so many languages can be understood without subtitles, and the translations are full of images that make Marivo feel fresh again.
New French plays also often come to Avignon for test runs, and playwright Junk Ristofdre was a hit on “Phone Me” at the theater number 11. This cleverly crafted intergenerational story revolves around what now feels like a telephone booth, a craft of the 20th century. On stage are three protagonists, members of the French Resistance during World War II, and her sons and granddaughters in the 1980s and 1990s. The secret is converging in this unlikely situation.
Among the 1,570 shows, gems such as the bright and family-friendly works “Phone Me” and “Tales of Fairies” at Espace Alya are a special pleasure. Director and scholar Aurora Evan is part of a French movement aimed at regaining the legacy of a forgotten female artist, and in Avignon revives two fairy tales by 17th-century writer Marie Catherine Darnoy. I did.
On a pocket-sized stage, at lunchtime on Monday, Evan’s three actors and musicians took a demanding queen, a kind prince, and some very useful animals to a whimsical life. Call it a sprinkle of vintage Avignon fairy dust: there were certainly some in the air.
Avignon Theater Festival. Various venues until July 26th.
Off the coast of Avignon. Various venues until July 30th.
