For the first edition of the Festival d'Avignon under the direction of Tiago Rodrigues, the July festivities will be inaugurated by director Julie Deliquet. She thus becomes one of the rare women to do so in seventy-seven years, after the legendary Ariane Mnouchkine and Pina Bausch. This edition invites 75% of new names, out of the forty shows offered. "We are passionate about the first times in Avignon," Tiago Rodrigues told AFP. The festival is "an unlikely marriage between memory, established big names and a springboard to the future".
Director since 2020 of the Gérard Philipe theater (National Dramatic Center of Saint-Denis), Julie Deliquet will sign in the courtyard of the Popes' Palace an adaptation of Welfare, a documentary by Frederick Wiseman, known for his criticism of American institutions. This creation will show a "special day in the life of the homeless, stateless, working people, single mothers and the destitute".
The director is known for her film adaptations: Fanny and Alexandre by Ingmar Bergman in 2019 for the Comédie-Française, Un conte de Noël by Arnaud Desplechin in 2020 for the Odéon and, in 2021, Huit heures ne fait not a day, a soap opera by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Tiago Rodrigues launched the idea of guest languages, with English in the spotlight this year. British playwrights Tim Crouch, Alistair McDowall and Alexander Zeldin are scheduled, as well as an English-language performance by German director Susanne Kennedy and a play by New York company Elevator Repair Service.
The edition will mark the return of a mythical place of the festival: the Boulbon quarry, located in the open air about fifteen kilometers from Avignon and used for the first time in 1985 for Peter Brook's Mahabharata and for the last time in 2016. Philippe Quesne created "The Garden of Delights" there, inspired by the painting by Jérôme Bosch. Tiago Rodrigues clarified that this relaunch, "at the request of the public", was complex because of the "budgetary challenge which forced the festival to save money" on other spaces.
The director launches the "First time" initiative to encourage the new generation to come to the festival, especially those "who feel intimidated". Thus, 5,000 young people will take part in the 2023 edition. In 2022, 15% of the public came for the first time, including a third under the age of 30.
