the program of parts to follow to always be on deck

Selection As the 78th edition of the Festival prepares to strike three times, the political tensions that are fracturing France will not fail to raise questions or mobilize its artisans and spectators. And with ingredients such as ghosts, secrets and a touch of sulfur, four plays should shake up the festival. Review of details

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With 35 shows on the bill, 80% of which are creations, and more than 1,600 in the “Off”, the curtain will rise on a festival inevitably marked by the vote which could bring the extreme right to power. If, for three weeks, this event will invite dreams and reflection, it will above all speak of the chaos of the world. The great theater event has always been vulnerable to social and political upheavals. In July 1968, he saw the May protest ignite, after the Latin Quarter, the banks of the Rhône to the sound of the slogan « Vilar, Béjart, Salazar ! » In July 2003, it was cancelled due to the mobilisation of intermittent entertainment workers worried about the future of their regime. In July 2014, its director, Olivier Py, threatened to move the festival out of the city in the event of a victory of the National Front in the municipal elections…

Its current director, the Portuguese Tiago Rodrigues, was born in a country where the dictatorship lasted until 1974. Author and director, he is the craftsman of a committed theater. His show “Caterina and the beauty of killing fascists” questioned in particular the foundations of fascism, the means of confronting it. The premiere of his play “Hecuba, not Hecuba” will be performed on the evening of the first round of the legislative elections. Evoking the Avignon forum, he assures: “The Festival is the place where debates converge. Some are already planned as part of the “Café des Idées”. Their themes will evolve, depending on the results of this historically important vote.” And, between two shows, of course, you will have to go and vote.

• Demons and wonders: “ Dämon. Bergman’s Funeral, by Angelica Liddell

Already invited nine times, the volcanic Spanish director and performer Angélica Liddell (“La Casa de la fuerza”, “The Year of Richard”…) will open the ball with “Damon. The funeral of Bergman. She will pay tribute to the Swedish filmmaker who wrote the script for her own funeral. On the superb set of the Court of Honor, Liddell summons dreams and nightmares. She will be accompanied by actors from the Swedish Dramaten and the faithful accomplices of her company, surrounded, for the occasion, by extras from Avignon.

◗ From June 29 to July 5, Court of Honor of the Palais des Papes. In French, Spanish and Swedish, with English surtitles. Not recommended for under 16s.

• From Paris to Mumbai: “ Lacrima”, by and directed by Caroline Guiela Nguyen

In London, in 2025, the Princess of England orders her wedding dress from a prestigious French haute couture house. Eight months and more than nine thousand hours of work will be necessary. From Paris to Mumbai, via Alençon, “Lacrima” follows the virtuoso hands and the intertwined destinies of several characters, Marion, Thérèse, Abdul and Samir. What secrets does the royal finery conceal? And what violence surfaces behind the dream factory? Caroline Guiela Nguyen, new director of the Théâtre national de Strasbourg, answers these questions by exploring artisanal know-how.

◗ From July 1st to 11th, Aubanel High School gymnasium. In French, Tamil, English, sign language, with English surtitles.

• Repairing the living: “ Leviathan, by Guillaume Poix »

From Covid (“Un sacre”) to the loss of a child (“le Silence”, a completely silent show), Lorraine de Sagazan relentlessly explores the process of reparation. With “Léviathan”, the author and director is now looking at the penal system and questioning the fairness of justice, particularly in immediate appearance procedures. With, implicitly, this question: “Who is the monster?” Dreaming of a show that would invent a ritual of restorative justice through theater, she erects a marquee that will echo the exhibition “Monte di Pietà” presented at the Lambert Collection with her scenographer Anouk Maugein. At her side, the author-accomplice Guillaume Poix.

◗ Collaboration on the text and direction by Lorraine de Sagazan.
From July 15 to 21, Aubanel high school gymnasium.

• Double-dealing : Elizabeth Costello. “Seven Lessons and Five Moral Tales,” directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski

Elizabeth Costello, an aging and bitter novelist, is a familiar figure to the Australian writer J. M. Coetzee, a sort of fictional alter ego. The Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski has already taken up her in “The End” and “(A) Pollonia”. In “Elizabeth Costello. Seven Lessons and Five Moral Tales”, six actresses and one actor will embody this author character who gradually goes off the rails and does not hesitate to scandalize with her remarks on evil. Avignon often succeeds with the turbulent and brilliant Warlikowski. He notably staged a memorable “Angels in America” ​​there.

◗ Based on the work of JM Coetzee.
From July 16 to 21, Cour d’Honneur of the Palais des Papes. In Polish, with French and English surtitles.