Avignon in July
In July, theatre covers the walls of Avignon as actors and audiences move through the streets to the rhythm of performances.
Festival Off posters cover the walls of Avignon
On Rue des Lices, the railings of the former Aumône Générale disappear beneath the posters. Titles, times, faces and theatre names form an abundant, short-lived programme. The street is read as much as it is crossed, saturated with colour and information.
This profusion comes from the Festival Off. Each company must make its production known among a multitude of shows. The posters become the first threshold of the theatre: they announce productions, venues and times while trying to catch the eyes of passers-by.
The Festival Off parade heralds the opening of the Festival
Promoting the productions is not confined to the façades. Companies walk through the streets of the historic centre, handing out flyers and holding up placards. On the eve of the Festival Off opening, the parade brings them together in a long procession of costumes and music. As it passes, the roadway becomes a stage and spectators crowd along its edges.
Born from independent initiatives, the Festival Off depends on this direct encounter with the public. In the street, a title held aloft and a few exchanged words can lead to a theatre.
Queues and café terraces set the pace in the historic centre
As performance times approach, waiting becomes visible. Queues stretch into the street outside the theatres. Some spectators reread the programme, choose their next show or exchange recommendations. The density of pedestrians and succession of queues transform everyday travel: crossing the centre by bicycle becomes difficult. For a few weeks, the people of Avignon share their city with festival-goers.
The squares of the city centre become stopping places between performances. Café terraces fill while other spectators head towards nearby theatres. Conversations extend one performance or prepare the next.
From Les Carmes to Les Célestins, two sides of the Festival
On Place des Carmes, the façade of Théâtre des Carmes André-Benedetto recalls the birth of the Off. In July 1966, André Benedetto presented Statues there, outside the programme led by Jean Vilar. The initiative opened another path: independent productions multiplied around the Festival d’Avignon in the years that followed.
A few streets away, the Cloître des Célestins offers a very different setting. From Place des Corps-Saints, Festival d’Avignon audiences make their way to this open-air stage. The entrance reveals only part of the auditorium arranged behind the walls.
The Festival d’Avignon draws up its programme with invited artists, while the Festival Off Avignon brings together theatres and companies presenting their productions independently.
For audiences, the two events blend into a single experience of Avignon in July. They move from a small Festival Off theatre to a venue occupied by the Festival d’Avignon, book a seat in the Cour d’honneur or choose an evening show after meeting its company in the street.
The Palace of the Popes and its Cour d’honneur, the Festival’s emblematic venue
Before the evening performances, a circle forms around a street artist on Place du Palais. Other passers-by head for the palace gates, climb towards the Rocher des Doms gardens, walk down towards the Saint-Bénézet Bridge or simply cross the square. Behind them, the façade of the Palace of the Popes provides a monumental backdrop for the improvised stage.
Beyond the palace gates, spectators enter the founding venue of the Festival d’Avignon. In September 1947, Jean Vilar presented Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Richard II in the Cour d’honneur, one of the three productions created for Une Semaine d’Art en Avignon. Since then, the courtyard has remained the image most closely associated with the Festival.
The Cour d’honneur becomes a temporary open-air theatre. The Festival installs a stage, seating and the sets required for each production; the palace walls then frame the performance.
Rue des Teinturiers carries the theatre into the night
From morning until late at night, performance times govern life on Rue des Teinturiers. Posters cover the façades, passers-by weave around queues outside the theatres and café terraces remain occupied after the shows. Beneath the plane trees, the street prolongs the theatre well beyond the auditorium doors.
There is no single route through the Festival. A poster glimpsed in a street, a recommendation exchanged at a café or a theatre discovered in passing can determine the next performance. Everyone shapes their days as they move between streets and venues.
Staying for several days in Avignon or the surrounding area makes it possible to attend different performances, with the historic centre as a daily meeting place.
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