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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2012 5:56:42 GMT
I have photographed Avignon a number of times already, but it always lends itself to being rephotographed constantly, so here I am again for a few days. I'll try to make this report day by day, and I will cover the spectacles seen a bit later in the 'In the Spotlight' section if anybody is interested. Anyway, as usual it all started in Gare de Lyon. You can see that it is still basically winter in Paris from the way the people are dressed. I got on the train and found myself in a frightening situation -- I was sitting across from Denis Lavant, a famous French actor and also the one that scares me the most. When I have seen him in plays, I'm always afraid that he is going to jump off the stage and 'do something.' And there he was, sitting face to face with me. But suddenly the train was cancelled due to the driver's windshield being damaged. They brought in a new train on the opposite track within 20 minutes (impressive!) so I got a picture of Denis Lavant while he was still out on the platform phoning ahead. This is the latest movie he was in, but he is much less scary in the trailer than in the film. Well, I survived the trip. The train left 35 minutes late -- yay! that means we'll all receive 25% compensation on the train fare -- but we arrived only about 15 minutes late, and I did feel that the train was going faster than usual. Picked up the car, picked up my 'Off' pass, picked up my catalogue of spectacles, dropped off my stuff at the hotel, and then I came back to town. The vegetal wall masking the car park on top of the covered market was as lush as usual. The venerable old trees wore their July festoons with admirable stoicism. And I was on my way to my first play at La Luna. I really like how improvised these theatres seem. La Luna contains three theatres. That's 27 26 spectacles being performed each and every day! Absolutely fantastic Italian play! (More on that elsewhere.) And then I was off to explore some more. I notice new details like how this building seems to have been chopped but not really bandaged. Every year I expect this petrol station to close and become a theatre. Oh wow, it's almost 8 am. I have to run and start day 2! More soon.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 16, 2012 8:08:35 GMT
Brilliant start Kerouac - Can't wait to see what you have 'clicked' at today!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2012 21:25:35 GMT
I tried to see a play at this place, La Manufacture, but it was sold out until the 18th and not even taking a waiting list. So I visited the "Village du Off" right next door. Apparently I missed President Hollande's visit by a few minutes. All of the radio and TV crews were just finished packing up. It serves as a media centre for all of the 'Off' activities and also has a press wall so that you can see all of the articles that have appeared about any performance in recent days, good or bad.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2012 21:36:05 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 17, 2012 1:07:42 GMT
This looks like so much fun, and exciting besides. I'm fascinated by the way organization is gently superimposed over such a massive, spilling-into-the-streets event. Hey ~~ you got to see one famous person and almost another one. The town is beautiful & venerable. What goes on there when Off season is not on?
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Post by lola on Jul 17, 2012 1:15:43 GMT
That's fun, K. How do you narrow it down? Look for the longest queue? Word of mouth?
I might be able to handle Lavant if he didn't do the thing with the eye.
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Post by htmb on Jul 17, 2012 22:04:36 GMT
This looks like so much fun, Kerouac. I would have a hard time picking and choosing.
How's the weather? When I was in Avignon in late June a few summers ago it was oppressively hot. I hope the weather is milder for you.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2012 5:27:23 GMT
Bixa, Avignon is a beautiful town in all seasons, but now that I've started coming in July, I find it totally boring during the other seasons. I know I shouldn't. Lola & htmb, for a casual visitor like me, it's very much hit or miss, because I just don't want to spend hours poring over the reviews, and I don't like to reserve, although I did yesterday for the first time, and I'm glad I did. (I will cover all of the plays and other spectacles I saw on the 'In the Spotlight' board, probably when I get home.) I am indeed sometimes influenced by the posters but even more so by the 'tracters' -- these are the people handing out the little flyers all over the city and very often the stars of the show themselves, so they are very willing to talk about it as long as you want. I never throw away a tract. I put them all in my day bag and only throw them away the morning I check out of the hotel, or sometimes they make it all the way back to Paris. Not everybody is like me, but the municipal cleaners do a spectacular job every morning. Same location, different angle, different time of day!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2012 5:31:19 GMT
With the Mistral blowing at gale force every day this week, the posters also suffer during the night. The cleaners collect them and dispose of them, and new posters are put up everywhere as necessary.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2012 5:39:30 GMT
I park just outside the walls and usually enter intra muros through this gate. The festival people are still all asleep! I don't need to use the municipal bike because intra muros is so compact, but I'm sure that a lot of the cobblestones would stop me anyway. Better to use them in the non historic parts of the city.
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Post by lugg on Jul 18, 2012 18:42:44 GMT
I have never been to this part of France and am holding my hands up to never having heard of the Spectacles before. Thanks for a brilliant introduction K2 . Do you concentrate on the "Off " or also go to some events in the "In" ?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2012 13:29:48 GMT
Lugg, in all of the years that I have been going to Avignon, I have only seen (part of) one official spectacle -- a play that lasted 24 hours and was not meant to be seen in its entirety in any case. It was free and you could walk in or out whenever you wished. I remember that it was directed by Olivier Py, who becomes the director of the festival next year, I think. The only other thing that I really wanted to see one year was already sold out when I tried to buy tickets in Paris already. I said, "Fine, it will probably be cancelled anyway." And indeed it was, because it was the year of the Great Strike in 2003. Just about every festival in France was cancelled that summer. It was an incredible moment that taught the government that culture is non negotiable in France. The strike concerned new rules that made just about every performer in France ineligible for unemployment benefits. It concerned the minimum number of paid hours in the year to be eligible for benefits -- the only people who could qualify were the established movie and TV stars who don't need the unemployment benefits. It should also be mentioned that the unemployment fund for performers is funded exclusively by the working performers and was not draining any money from factory or office workers. I went to the Off anyway that year, which was operating at about 60% of the planned programmes, just because the performers had to work to live, as they explained at the beginning of every performance. "We support the strike but we have to perform or starve, because we invested every euro we had or could borrow in coming here and we will not even be able to eat if we do not perform." The performers of France ("intermittants du spectacle") won in the end, but so many things were spoiled because of the government that year. I left Avignon a couple days early because there was just no happiness that year -- but there was a huge silent march through the streets every evening with performers and public joined together. But I digress. The morning after arriving, my travelling companion Denis Lavant was in the local newspaper. However, the most famous visitor to Avignon that day was somebody else -- President Hollande honouring a campaign promise. The previous year he had visited the Off as a presidential candidate and he said that if he was elected, he would return this year -- the first French president ever to visit the Off. When they come, they always visit just the official festival... I found the poet for hire that I had already photographed in front of the Pompidou Centre in Paris, but I also saw that he has some new competition (or a new associate?).
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2012 16:03:06 GMT
Oh it's that time of year again K2, and you're taking us along again, thank you!! I adore these posts . I would be up early and about as well, and, seeing the village at that time of day is so tranquil and without all the chaos. I love love the vegetal wall of course, and would love to see the hidden garden as well. I'm really glad you got to go again and thanks for this annual treat!
I would have freaked seeing Lavant sitting across from me too. Almost as bad as a clown plopping himself down, that creepy.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2012 19:43:28 GMT
In the major pedestrian area, they have put up some new street signs that also give the name of the street in the original provençal. Sometimes, the name is almost the same -- sometimes it has been abbreviated considerably. This is where I bought kebabs regularly up until last year. Not anymore! I don't know of any war combat in Avignon, but these bullet-ridden walls tell me I'm ignorant of history. I missed some plays for various reasons. For example this place was presenting a play by Harold Pinter that interested me, but the girl at the desk was more interested in talking on her mobile phone than greeting interested spectators. So I wandered away. The hell with Harold Pinter anyway. He is a depressing son of a bitch. At this place, I wanted to see a classical Italian play by Carlo Gozzi ( Il Monstro turchino), and I was additionally attracted because it is performed in an open air courtyard. But I misread the programme, because it was only being performed from 21 to 28 July. Instead, they were performing an ancient Roman play by Plautus, Miles Gloriosus ("The Braggart Soldier") which did not appeal to me at the time, but suddenly I want to see it. Too late! But I saw other stuff, don't worry. For example, the Beijing Fringe Festival was back at the Théâtre Golovine. Last year I saw one of their odd plays about cooking (and they served us the result after the play), but this time I saw a mixed dance-mime production. I was also happy to return to the Théâtre des Doms, which is controlled by the Belgian francophones. Let me introduce you to Greg Germain, the president of the Off. He was famous as a doctor in a TV series in the 70's (Médecins de Nuit)I also saw a play at the Théâtre des Halles. Expensive at 14€! But worth it. view from inside the courtyard and it is an excellent courtyard... It also has a wall explaining the official names of columns.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2012 20:08:51 GMT
The hell with the festival for a moment. There are plenty of other things to see in Avignon.
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Post by lugg on Jul 21, 2012 4:13:32 GMT
Now I want to go even more .
That Trumpet Vine on the Hidden garden wall is so much further on than the one in my garden which is only just starting to bud.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2012 4:25:58 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2012 4:37:26 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2012 10:18:52 GMT
The vast majority of non-festival tourists at this time of year are German speaking. They take their tours of the city as though there were no festival at all.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 21, 2012 10:36:44 GMT
Fantastic!! Kerouac your photos so a l i v e I can see you had a marvellous time there. Even if I never went to any of the theatre I would enjoy the buzzzzzz ;D Or, do you think one could enjoy a play even if you don't understand what they are saying.....I'm thinking of the enjoyment we got out of the show at Provins - I understand that it was a completely different format tho......
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2012 11:02:57 GMT
Tod, there are plenty of spectacles than can be appreciated by non French speaking audiences -- here is proof from the catalogue! Out of the 1161 shows, there are companies from 25 other countries also performing in Avignon. This year, there are 7 theatrical troupes from the United States, 2 from Canada, 1 from the UK, 2 from Australia... And of the things that I saw this year, 2 were not in French at all -- one was in Mandarin and one was in Greek, and it was not a problem at all. Last year I saw a play in Russian.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2012 11:30:16 GMT
Spying the traditional Ferris wheel, I decided I should at least walk through the traditional crap artisans market of the festival. It usually gives a good preview to all of the latest Chinese discoveries in what people can be tricked into buying, not to mention the anthropological display of neo hippies who still manage to make some sort of living out of twisting pieces of wire into earrings or candle holders. I googled it and found no explanation. I think the Ferris wheel people must be extremely dismayed by their corresponding drop in revenue. I looked at it, and there was a grand total of maybe 10 people riding it. It used to be full all the time. I suspect that next year either the market will be back or the wheel will be gone. The bridge to Nimes that also serves the Ile de la Barthelasse is always full of pedestrians, because there are huge campsites there. After sunset, the stone walls become much softer. I still had some stuff to see, for example the aforementioned Greek play in this tiny alleyway. Right this way... ... through the little door in the wall... ... and the play is in the garden shed (?). I don't even know what certain people are selling. An old Arab potter was plying his trade with his wheel. And the throngs continued to throng. The next day would be my last.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 21, 2012 14:09:56 GMT
Kerouac, that is great news! And here I was under the impression EVERYTHING was in French!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 21, 2012 14:23:48 GMT
What a treasure trove of a thread! It's so beautiful that I'd be happy just looking at the pictures, but your lively, concise text really makes your experiences real.
One thing that really strikes me is how each play venue seems to have its own outdoor lobby space, whether a large courtyard or a small yard, as with the Greek play. Am I interpreting that correctly? If so, how is that managed, with all the space that's needed for all those plays?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2012 15:41:41 GMT
Not every theatre is so lucky, Bixa. Quite often you are stuck out in the street, and even the ticket sales are on a table in the street, but every place tries to improve the comfort of the spectators with chairs, benches, shade, whatever they can provide, and they will also comandeer a few parking spaces if possible to set up a buvette, which probably sometimes brings in more money than ticket sales. Naturally, I prefer places with a courtyard or a big waiting room when possible. It gets really hot under the July sun! But now it is time to wrap this up. I decided that my very last play would be a take on The Odyssey in a unique location. In past years, I have gone to Villeneuve-lès-Avignon across the Rhône where there are various plays in historic buildings. I will never forget a fabulous production of A Midsummer Night's Dream which started in a barn but took us later out into a field of bales of hay. It was magical. I did not go to Villeneuve this time, but I went to the new location of the vagabond travelling troupes who go across Europe and perform in tents. They are now located on the Bathelasse island, which makes them more accessible to people without cars. There is a free ferry from Avignon that runs until past midnight. Goodbye to air conditioning this time, but they had a lot of powerful (and relatively silent) fans, and everybody was presented with an iced wash cloth when entering. The performance was great, mixing live actors, marionnettes, little puppets, dancing skeletons and plenty of special effects.
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Post by patricklondon on Jul 21, 2012 17:31:42 GMT
What a fantastic trip. Rather like the Edinburgh Fringe (which I've also never visited).
I trust you'll forgive an addition, but since you posted a photo of You Know What, I was reminded of a 78 I found by chance in a junk shop (and playing it at home, discovered my mother's faiblesse for Jean Sablon):
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2012 18:45:55 GMT
Yes, Patrick that song is incontournable, as they say. I forgot to show the bike storage on the ferry.
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Post by fumobici on Jul 21, 2012 19:20:10 GMT
Lovely report again K2. Avignon could nearly pass as an Italian city, as could much of Provence. I'd love to visit but I would go in the Spring or Fall when the heat had left. I just am not a fan of that. Oh and the coffee mill tent for some inexplicable reason I find very charming.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 21, 2012 19:23:13 GMT
*standing ovation!*
This was -- & will be, since I know I'll come back to enjoy it again -- a thoroughly delightful experience. You really kept up a sense of movement throughout the entire thread, enhancing the sense of being there, along with the pleasurable anxiety you must have felt making decisions and juggling times.
If I didn't say it before ~~ the pictures are fantabulous throughout all the changes of scene, times of day, & moods.
Thanks for the answer to my question, and for following it up by illustrating your answer. Thanks for this thread!
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