In the night of Avignon, timid reactions to the first round of legislative elections

As the Avignon Festival begins, the results of the first round have been met with little reaction, despite the mobilization of several prominent artists.

At the premiere of “Hecuba”, the flame of Thiago Rodrigues

The expected spectacle this election night is Hecuba, not Hecuba, the piece by festival boss Tiago Rodrigues. At the very beautiful Boulbon quarry, a few kilometers from Avignon, he also stages it with the Comédie Française troupe. The performance is set for 10 p.m., like all the festival’s open-air shows, you have to wait until night falls.

The spectators slowly climb the long stony path to access the site. One would like to feel a different atmosphere, while the results of the first round have just been announced and cast doubt on the future of our democracy. But no. Maybe just a little more silence, less laughter or loud conversations. As if the theater lovers present, a little dazed, stunned, almost feared to broach the subject.

Arriving at the venue, we find the dense crowd of opening nights, the curious impatience, the feverish waiting. Pale faces of artists, spectators with suddenly drawn features, as if tired. Oddly enough, you have to bring up the subject yourself for people to talk about it.

Installed on the stand with the blue plastic shell chairs so uncomfortable from Boulbon’s career, we watch Denis Podalydès, then Elsa Lepoivre, Eric Génovès, Loïc Corbery settle down around a long table before the show begins, discussing between them under the hushed conversations of the public. These are the beginnings of the staging…

When will it end Hecuba, not Hecuba, Tiago Rodrigues, after the salutes, will come out of breath to announce a night of resistance, on Thursday July 4, from midnight to 6 a.m. in the Court of Honor of the Palais des Papes after the Angelica Liddell show. All the artists of the festival, In and Off mixed together, will meet there to invite us to defend in the second round our beautiful republican values ​​which may be threatened. All spectators are invited free of charge. The boss of the festival is combative, warm, generous. But it’s already late, the spectators want to go home. – Fabienne Pascaud

At the Stade de Bagatelle, “ “Being silent together is even stronger”

6 p.m., Sunday June 30, the crowd rushes to enter the refreshing green lawn of the Stade de Bagatelle. 175 amateurs aged 16 to 76 are waiting for a dozen professional dancers from Boris Charmatz’s company as well as the TanztheaterWuppertal-Pina Bausch, which he has directed for two years, to mingle with them. Soon they will be embarked together in Circles“the open-air choreographic research workshop” organized by the choreographer, an artist accomplice of the Festival. The master of ceremonies, cap and pink T-shirt, sets the tone: “Ve are like the dance company of the Avignon Festival and you made me spend wonderful days in these times of political violence and uncertainty “. He sets the tone. Elodie, 38 years old, from the village of Angles, on the other side of the Rhône, amateur practitioner and collaborator of a local authority, remembers it suddenly: “ ah yes… I voted this morning, at 8am! I have the impression that it was ages ago, because here, we are in a bubble of happiness. Dancing with all these people, being part of it but entering and leaving the “Circle” whenever you want, it’s a beautiful way to experience freedom. »

8 p.m., everyone is dancing, more and more red, happy, abandoned to the movement. All the more galvanized as the dozen pros gave them the pleasure of also performing alone at the start of the replays. The results ? Among the public, we watch them discreetly. Isabelle shows her cell phone connected to France Info: 34.1% for the RN, 28.1% for the New Popular Front, 20.1% for Ensemble, the presidential majority, according to Ipsos… “ This is not the dreaded RN tidal wave, she breathes, still relieved. Afterwards, there will be a barrier against the far-right. » Three delightful retirees from Avignon, fans of both In and Off, share this feeling: only 3 points more compared to Europeans.

Boris Charmatz, finally seated on a bench, admits not being able to analyze this figure on the spot: “IA few days ago, it made sense to me to set up this project as a very horizontal and not airtight assembly. But when I see the reality of the RN score, I no longer know what to think. I am all the more struck as it is rising all over Europe. As if we were gradually being won over, in our turn, by the populism of Brexit. You have to continue to do everything: dance, speak, write. Above all, get this idea out of people’s heads that art is elitist: proof of the opposite with Circles ! Artists must also offer constructive counter-narratives that suggest solutions. »

Patrick, 62, palliative care mediator from Nîmes, who found Boris Charmatz ” very fine and never overhanging ” in his address to the amateurs, met again much later in the quiet streets of Avignon, thinks that having participated in this adventure, one evening of the first round, is rich in meaning: ” Beyond the obvious pleasure of being together, being silent together is even stronger: it stops us from saying stupid things like the ones we sometimes heard during the campaign. Because the advantage of letting bodies talk to each other, without the intervention of speech, is that they hear each other. And that’s not nothing, today, such an experience. » — Emmanuelle Bouchez

In the Off, a few screams in the night

This Sunday, June 30, the streets of Avignon were strangely calm for this day of legislative elections. If the In Festival began this Saturday, June 29 with demon by Angelica Liddell, the off, will not officially start until July 3. The festival-goers are still waiting, and it shows. A few minutes before the publication of the first results, few restaurants were full. Place des Carmes, the sparse terraces welcomed customers focused on their discussion, phone on the table. When 8 p.m. rings, few consult the results. A few steps away, in front of the Palais des Papes, a street show is taking place. While not far away, on the Place de l’Horloge, the terraces are broadcasting the England-Slovakia football match. The elections seem far from the minds of Avignon, in search of lightness at the start of the festival. You have to walk past several establishments before seeing a political face: that of Marine Le Pen, then in the middle of a speech. The RN MP announces her re-election in her constituency of Pas-de-Calais. 8:21 p.m. Spectators leave the Théâtre des Halles where two plays have just finished. ” You heard ? The RN made 33% »slips a lady to her husband. “That was nice, now let’s see the bad news…”, says another spectator. Philippe Durand, author of Larzac !leaves the theater, quickly joined by members of the audience. The discussion revolves around the show, not the elections. Meanwhile, musicians play along the rue de la République, one of the city’s most important arteries. The atmosphere is light. At 9 p.m., a few shouts disturb the ambient calm. They come from the Place de l’Horloge, where a gathering has just formed. A few dozen people are present. CGT-spectacle flags fly above their heads. “No fascists in our neighborhoods!” No neighborhood for fascists! » ; “Youth annoys the National Front”, chant the demonstrators. A few passers-by join them, then quickly leave. At midnight, Avignon is almost already asleep. – Kilian Now