Avignon Festival: our off best-of
In anticipation of their upcoming arrival in theaters, here is our selection of the festival’s must-sees.
“THE SILENT BOOK”, BACK TO SOURCES There is no real scenario in this extraordinary solo. Lamine Diagne takes his audience by the hand to embark on a universe of a thousand flavors. Dance, projection, music, science: the proposal is complete and sublime. Oneirism, mysticism irrigate questions about roots and genealogy. A real performance, unvarnished but with an incredible sweetness and a rare sincerity.
By and with Lamine Diagne, directed by Valérie Puech
“LIFE IS A PARTY”, HOMOPHOBIA FOR DUMMIES Romain is a womanizer. Until he realizes he prefers boys. It’s the 1980s and being a fag, as her dad says, isn’t an option. Romain’s story, all in poetry and humor, serves as a pretext to retrace the evolution of homophobia and the LGBT cause. An ode to love, friendship, family and self-acceptance.
Directed by Virginie Lemoine, with Julien Alluguette, Ariane Brousse, Benjamin Tholozan, Alexis Victor and Valérie Zaccomer.
“FORGET ME”, LOVE SICKNESS It all starts with a look exchanged in a nightclub. She dances, cocktail in hand, while he doesn’t take his eyes off her. To get her attention, he spills his glass of wine on her pretty top. She groans, without conviction… They fall in love and embark on their divine idyll. One day, he goes out to get milk and stamps. A short, simple list that he immediately forgets. What could have been a detail is not. “Forget me” is not just a love fable, the play tells the story of the couple in adversity, the distress of the one who sees himself wavering, the unshakable strength of the one who must support the loved one. The minimalist decor allows Marie-Julie Baup and Thierry Lopez, both also directing, to show the extent of their acting palette. Between humor and drama, it becomes different, it is overwhelmingly sincere. “Forget Me” is the kind of striking work that accompanies the viewer for a time. Pour long.
Directed by Marie-Julie Baup and Thierry Lopez, from “In Other Words”, by Matthew Seager.
“GREAT MUSIC”, DUTY OF MEMORY Bismarck said that he who does not know where he comes from cannot know where he is going. “La grande musique” focuses on a cursed family, haunted by the ghosts of the past and by questions left unanswered. Genetic memory is questioned, the importance of genealogy deciphered, and family patterns are dissected. The historical and dramatic fresco is carried by an inhabited, bewitched and bewitching troupe.
Directed by Salomé Villiers, with Hélène Degy, Pierre Hélie, Brice Hillairet, Étienne Launay, Bernard Malaka, Florence Muller or Raphaëline Goupilleau.
“THE GRANDIOSE DEATH OF PUPPETS, VARIATIONS”, WHEN LIFE HANGS BY A THREAD Don’t look for something intellectual here, there is only absurdity here. Here, then, is a puppet theatre, like the ones we applauded as children, except that these are destined to perish. These poor dolls had not yet asked for anything… But, under the hands of their cruel mistresses with their overflowing imagination, they succumb crushed, decapitated, hanged… And, let’s be frank, we laugh out loud and without guilt at the grotesque situations and rehearsal comedy. The puppets are dead. Long live the puppets.
Directed by Peter Balkwill, Pityu Kenderes, Judd Palmer.
“ONE FOR ALL”, BLIND PASSION The format is classic, the plot seen and reviewed. A man, his wife and his mistress (here, visually impaired) meet at the same dinner. To complete the infernal seating plan, the couple’s loyal band of friends. And the menu is delicious. We love to hate the unfaithful husband, the smile of his wife who bursts into tears every four minutes, to make fun of the lover (literally) blinded by her love for this boor. When laughter becomes anything but a guilty pleasure.
Directed by Éric Savin, with Amandine Chatelain, Ronan Hebmann, Morgane Delacour, Fabien Desvigne, Olivia Pavlou-Graham and Mathieu Peralma.
“JULES”, THE ART OF TEAM BUILDING Welcome to Star Burger. A fast food like there are so many. You’ll be served by Bart – whom everyone called Jules because of a bad badge -, his siphoned boss who speaks Franglais and his colleagues who are too happy to assemble cardboard boxes. “Jules” is a tale about overconsumption, battery farming, junk food. And a spotlight on American management techniques where team spirit serves as a screen for a new form of tyranny. A striking UFO.
Directed by Mickaël Allouche, with Juliette de Ribaucourt, Adrien Madinier, Taddéo Ravassard and Paul Scarfoglio.