An Avignon Festival atmosphere has reigned in the royal city since the beginning of June 2023. For those who have walked near Versailles at the start of summer, the impression is striking. Certainly, the offer is less bloated in the capital of Yvelines than in the prefecture of Vaucluse. With around forty shows offered in nearly 62 different places and 330 curtain raisers this year, the Molière Month does not play in the same court as the In or the Off in Avignon (more than 1,500 plays on display) . It prevents. The 27th edition of this event, which ends on July 2, is on track to bring together nearly 150,000 spectators this year. A record!
Created by François de Mazières in 1996, this event dedicated to theater has become, over the years, an event not to be missed. Several shows are well established in Versailles before being played in Avignon. The courtyard of the Grande Écurie hosted, at the opening of the event, the creation of Braconniers, the new play by Éric Bouvron which tells the story of two men, one black, the other white, who have both seen a loved one perish under the bullets of the hunters. Two individuals determined to avenge them… A new success for this playwright of South African origin who will be putting on this show in Avignon in a few days. Just as he did for Cavaliers, the adaptation of the eponymous novel by Joseph Kessel, awarded a Molière in 2018. And Lawrence of Arabia, last year.
Several of the directors and actors present this year will, like him, travel to Vaucluse at the beginning of July after having tested their shows in Versailles. Such Willam Mesguich who proposed a dantesque Richard III of Shakespeare. Or Pierre-Olivier Scotto and Xavier Lemaire who created Rentrée 42, where they plunge viewers into the history of an elementary school in the 11th arrondissement of Paris after the Vél’ d’Hiv roundup. Such again is Anthony Magnier and his company Viva, who proposed to Versailles very successful Fourberies of Scapin by Molière. Like Éric Bu who takes his characters (Charles Gentes and Christine Vercel, two imaginary stars of the post-war music hall) to meet the festival-goers of the city of the Popes. But also Alain Payen who, not content to have enchanted the people of Versailles this year with his very successful adaptation for the stage of Guy de Maupassant, will play the same show at the Sainte-Marthe chapel in Avignon.
