Festival d'Avignon

The tradition & historical record

The Festival d'Avignon, or Avignon Festival (Occitan: Festival d'Avinhon), is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vilar, it is the oldest existent festival in France. Alongside the official festival, the "In" one, a number of shows are presented in Avignon at the same time of the year and are known as the "Off". In 2008, some 950 shows were performed during three weeks. ¹

Art critic Christian Zervos and poet René Char organized a modern art exhibition held in the main chapel of the Pope's Palace in Avignon. In that setting, they asked Jean Vilar, actor, director, theatre director, and future festival founder, to present Meurtre dans la cathédrale which he adapted in 1945. After refusing, Vilar proposed three plays: William Shakespeare's Richard II, a play almost unknown in France at that time, La Terrasse de midi, by Maurice Clavel, then unknown author, and L'Histoire de Tobie et de Sara by Paul Claudel. ¹

The festival is organised by a non-profit organisation (since 1980), which is administered by a board of trustees composed of: the French state, the city of Avignon, the Département of Vaucluse, the Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, and seven public figures competent in the field of theatre. Amongst other places, the "In" Festival is performed in the "Cour d'Honneur" – the honours courtyard – of the Palais des Papes, the place of residence of the Avignon papacy during most of the 14th century. ¹

The "Off" festival is also organised by a non-profit organisation composed mostly of theatre companies and is performed in theaters schools, streets and all places suitable for performing. ¹

The Festival d'Avignon was founded by Jean Vilar in 1947. He was invited to present his first great successful play – Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot in the Palace of the Popes. At the same moment and at the same place, an exhibition of contemporary paintings and sculptures was organized by Christian Zervos, an art critic and collector, and by René Char, the poet. Vilar initially refused the invitation, as for him the Cour d'Honneur of the Pope's Palace was too vast and "shapeless" and he also lost the performance rights of the play. However, he proposed three creations: Shakespeare's Richard II, one of Bard's plays that was little known at the time in France; Paul Claudel's Tobie et Sara ('Tobie and Sara'), and Maurice Clavel's second play, La Terrasse de Midi ('The Midday Terrace'). The first Festival d'Avignon in September 1947 set the scene as a showcase for unknown work and modern scripts. Upon obtaining initial success, the festival began enjoying the contribution of many young talents. Among the actors and actresses invited by Vilar, one finds the following: Jean Négroni, Germaine Montero, Alain Cuny, Michel Bouquet, Jean-Pierre Jorris, Silvia Montfort, Jeanne Moreau, Daniel Sorano, Maria Casarès, Philippe Noiret, Monique Chaumette, Jean Le Poulain, Charles Denner, Jean Deschamps, Georges Wilson, and Gérard Philipe. The festival's success grew, in spite of criticisms, which were at times virulent. Vilar's idea of a "popular theatre" moved critics to refer to Vilar as "Stalinist", "fascist", "populist", or "cosmopolitan". On the other hand, Vilar's conception of the theatre remained conservative with respect to competing conceptions developed especially in the course of the 1960s. ¹

The 2020 edition was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Festival d'Avignon”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Festival d'Avignon is theatrical festival, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 17 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²