The Avignon Off Festival now has a new programmer in the person of François de Mazières, mayor of Versailles. In connection with “Le mois Molière”, the festival that he created and which has taken place every June for 28 years, the first magistrate of Versailles is ensuring the programming of eight shows this summer in a new location: the old Carmel at 3 rue de l’Observance, which has become a shared habitat with an intergenerational vocation, around three pillars: agroecology, culture and solidarity. Two stages for 200 seats and eight shows: a chapel with 80 seats and a second stage in the wooded park which fascinates so much in the city center of Avignon, with its 120 seats. Without forgetting the possibility of eating or hydrating yourself. What more?
This “Month Molière” of Versailles will therefore this year have an extension in Avignon. “This is a first that we will share with festival-goers, around eight plays, mixing humor and contemporary authors, between conviviality and emotions, to address a wide audience,” explains François de Mazières.
A place where we come to find words and calm
Steeped in history and spirituality, the Carmel of Avignon, the new venue for the Off festival, should attract crowds, looking for quality shows but also freshness, in the heart of the “Julyist” furnace specific to the intra- Avignon walls.
Eight pieces including five creations are on the program in this exceptional environment, the Respelid’, which means resurrection or rebirth in Provençal. Thus, from July 3 and until July 21, Eric Bouvron Sophie Forte and many others will come to inaugurate this new venue for the Off Festival, undoubtedly one of the most unique and one of the most picturesque.
In “Paris Istanbul (last call), Eric Bouvron, “Moliérisé” for “Les cavaliers” according to Kessel, pays homage to the homage to Istanbullywood, the golden age of Turkish cinema, through a lively story around, in particular, return to the country. A “Bouvronesque” crossing like no other.
Sophie Forte, ex-accomplice of Laurent Ruquier during the heyday of “Rien à waxer” (2 million listeners on France Inter) wrote the novel “La Suitcase”, which is also the title of her show. At the bottom of her attic, the narrator discovers an old suitcase containing a number of loose family photos. She recalls her childhood memories in this somewhat eccentric family, and unfolds the thread of life. We dive happily into the daily lives of these endearing figures, from the father who suddenly decides to change careers to the colorful aunt.
Among the shows on display at the former Carmel, “Le Géniteur”, a play with three characters, written based on a real event and signed…François de Mazières. Yes yes, the same one who officiates as mayor of Versailles. A married couple, made up of a man and a woman, both the product of artificial fertilization, attempted to identify their respective genetic fathers using an American sperm bank. The husband thus managed to find traces of his… Author, programmer, François de Mazières, does not hide his enthusiasm for this edition of Off, which is, to say the least, unprecedented as far as he is concerned: “it’s a bit of an adventure With my wife, I have been coming to the Avignon festival for so long. Obviously, I selected this place for its sublime garden, unique in Avignon, but also for its chapel. don’t feel tight like anchovies!”
What to see at the old Carmel of Avignon from July 3 to 21?
11 a.m.: “The glory of my father” by Pagnol (odd days) and “Le temps des secrets” (even days)
1 p.m.: “La Valise” by Sophie Forte
3 p.m.: “The list of my desires” by Grégoire Delacourt (even days) and “Oleanders” by Sidi Bel Abbés (odd days)
5 p.m. / “The Genitor” (François de Mazières)
7 p.m.: “Paris Istanbul (last call)” by Eric Bouvron
9 p.m.: “We purge Baby” by Feydeau (Antoine Séguin)
