Above and below, more portraits from the theatre festival. You can guess from the costumes that the performances span a large variety of styles. Can you tell me which portrait you like best and why?
The question any festival-goer asks himself is what performance to see next. Let's sit down for a moment and check out the catalogue. Alternatively a full-size open-air version of the catalogue is made up from the multitude of street posters in town.
Rue de la république
Mulberry trees are welcome in the south of France because they withstand frost and bear a deep green shiny foliage which provides a thick shade in summer. The small berries they bear are edible, sweet and juicy ; they are red and turn black when ripe. I've heard that they're great to turn into jams, juices and syrups but I've never tried: I usually just nibble on them when I walk past one. This tree is in the street where my sister lives, maybe I could try and pick enough berries to make some jam? The Latin name is Morus Kayagamae. Have you ever heard of this tree? Does it grow where you live?
Meet Fatina. For the past three years, her job has been to feed the fifty-odd members of the Nofit State Circus which for the duration of the festival has set up its big top on the island of la Barthelasse, across the river from Avignon. NoFit State, the leading UK contemporary circus company, is on a European tour to present their new show, tabú. Performers and crew from Wales, Italy, Argentina, Germany, France, Finland, England and Ireland all bring their own skills and talents to the show. Their mission is - "to be the circus everyone wants to join". Combining cutting edge circus performance, live music and video the audience enters the giant silver spaceship big top and becomes immersed in an explosion of furious fun and choreographed mayhem. Don't expect to be seated, you'll be standing the whole time and moving around as things happen above, behind and all around you. I loved the show. They're on a European tour, their next destination in Antwerp in the Netherlands. Do go and see them if you have a chance, and book early and they have a tendency to sell out. Check out their website for more information.
Foreign theatre companies are also represented at the Avignon Festival. Last year I saw a beautiful show by a Korean company where just through mime, three actors brought to life a story of poverty and war, hopes, dreams and despair with acute sharpness. It was extraordinarily moving. Words are not always necessary for people from different countries to understand each other. My photo above shows part of the Taiwanese delegation, which was led by its Ambassador in France. Taiwan presents several shows at the festival this year.
Strolling the streets of Avignon on a balmy summer night at festival time is just wonderful. If you walk up to palace square in front of the Papal Palace, you are sure to find two or three street performances at the same time. I was most impressed with the 15-mn dance performance given by In6danse (pronounce Incidence). Five dancers (3 girls, 2 boys) let their bodies loose in the night and it's superb. The show is free but when dancers pass the hat around after the performance, please remember that donations are essential to keep artists alive.
If you think this is just a pretty butterfly on lavender shot, look again. Life at its most cruel is at work here: to eat and be eaten. A fluttering nectar-lover met an ambushed predator - and his death. Several times in this lavender bush did I try to take pictures of the many butterflies around. To my frustration they never seemed to stay in place for more than a second. I was finally overjoyed to discover one that stayed on. Only when I came right up to it for a macro shot did I realise why it couldn't fly away: he'd fallen prey to a praying mantis who was devouring its entrails. A better image of the feast can be found below.
In this bunch of pretty but no doubt wicked witches, can you spot the odd one out?
The witches are playing in Kid Manor, a musical comedy for children, every day at 11:00 am at Le Paris theater.
A typical morning treat for festival-goers in Avignon is to sit down at a terrace and have a coffee while reading press reviews of the plays given the night before. All French national daily and weekly papers have full-time critics reporting on the Avignon theatre festival, it's a major cultural event. For festival-goers, deciding what to see in the jungle of some 900 shows presented here can be a daunting project. Of course they can be drawn by an author or play they know, by a colourful poster or a teaser they see in the street, but word-of-mouth and press critics are major factors in the decision making. The buzz, which can have a make or break effect, circulates increasingly via the Internet too. Two websites cover the local cultural life : avignews.com and made in avignon.com. Excellent reviews can also be found on Rue du Théatre and La Théatrothèque. Unfortunately, all are in French only.
Do you need a copy of the Avignon theatre festival program? Ask this young man: his pushbike holds a large supply of the thick 500 page, A4 size directory. You can also obtain the book for free at the Avignon tourist office or at the Off festival headquarters located in Espace Jeanne Laurent, half-way up as you walk into the Jardin des Doms gardens. You can also view the programme online here (all in French).
Happy Festival to all!
A young actor manipulates red plasticine with an almost ferocious look of concentration on his face. His arms are tinted red. If the image is striking, so is the play he is inviting us to see. Gregory Nardella will be alone on stage in The Tale of a Tiger, a play by Dario Fo, Nobel prize for litterature 1997. The Tale of a Tiger is based on a story Fo first heard in the outskirts of China. It is a cry to resist narrow-minded bureaucracy and political dogmatism. The story teller used the tiger as a metaphor to avoid accusations of dissidence.
I would happily give these two the "festival's most handsome couple" award. Or perhaps the most spooky? In what sort of horror show would you see them playing? The Adams family, Dracula? Or some Shakespeare drama? I haven't been able to ascertain. Will my local readers or some knowledgeable festival goer help me identify them and tell us where they are playing? Has anyone seen their show?
The best way to advertise a circus show is to present a teaser. Not bad, eh? Is circus something you enjoy?
Isn't it amazing how face masks can change one's physionomy? The most amazing feature of these masks is the hair (click on the photos to see it better). These two actors were advertising a play by famous actor and playwright Molière (1622-1673) - if Shakespeare had a French equivalent, he would be it. The play, "Le médecin malgré lui" (the reluctant doctor) is a farce about charlatans that twists lies and love into a fun imbroglio. This particular interpretation by the Fox Company was very positively commented from the critic. You can see it at Espace Alya, 31 rue Guillaume Puy, every day at 2:oo pm. Suitable for children from the age of 8.
Far from the hustle and bustle of the festival, the only noise you hear in the provencal countryside during the hot summer months is the hissing/clicking sound that male cicadas make to attract their females. Contrary to a popular belief, cicadas don't stridulate like crickets do (where two structures are rubbed against one another), they timbalise. On the sides of their abdomen they have loud noisemakers called timbals which work like a complex membrane. Contracting the internal timbal muscles produces a clicking sound as the timbals buckle inwards. As these muscles relax, the timbals return to their original position, producing another click. The male cicadas' hollow abdomens amplify the sound. They further modulate the noise by wiggling their abdomens toward and away from the tree that they are on. The distinctive noise they make is sometimes the only way to differentiate two cicada species which otherwise may look exactly the same.
Can you see it above ? That was the same cicada before it was caught for inspection.
Just two kilometres upstream from the city, the river banks offer an incredibly green and peaceful setting. No doubt that spirits inhabit those magical waters. Make a wish, it might come true!
Do some of you remember the photo of a bulldozer inside a church I posted on June 20th? It was digging in order to install an elevator. As very rarely happens in France, this church is to be converted to something else. I asked you to guess what. You came up with a wealth of responses : restaurant (MacDonald's!), art gallery, gym, tourist office, public baths, night club, library, car park (for heaven's sake!)... I went back to check on the works' progress and here are some updated photos. So thanks for your patience, here's the answer: the church will be the city's new media library cum official employment agency (pôle emploi). How do you feel about that? Happy or disappointed? I'd love to come and read books in such a beautiful environment but I'm not sure about coming here to look for work.
Through the roof, the sky. This post is my contribution to Skywatch Friday.
William Shakespeare's famous play A Midsummer Night's Dream is showed (in French) at the Cour du Barouf theatre at 10:00 am on even days. Its French name is Le Songe d'une Nuit d'Eté. Is it a play you like? Here's one of the young actors. Which role do you think he's holding? I think his own dream started mid-afternoon, way before the full moon rose last night.
It looks like the dream is affecting everybody including me. Am I seeing double?
Yesterday afternoon saw the official opening of Avignon's annual theatre festival with a grand street parade of all performing companies, led by an elephant. A lively and colourful event which took place under a bright blue sky. The festival, which runs from the 8th to the 31st of July, will occupy much of my blog over the next three weeks. I hope you'll enjoy it.
Rue de la république
...a plane tree leaf caught in a ray of sunshine as I leave home in the morning.
Have you noticed? Sunflowers don't always turn towards the sun, that's a lie. Some always face towards you, no matter what. That's because they contain hidden cameras. Big brother is watching you. All is well in the best of all worlds...
A seemingly anxious look on a young spectator's face. The show is about the start, anticipation builds up. This photo was taken at Gordes' dance, theatre and music school end of year show, a lovely unpretentious and family-oriented event. The setting, an open-air theatre located at the bottom of the cliff and village of Gordes (see the house above?), is quite spectacular. Several concerts and plays will be given there over the summer, including a theatre festival 2-11 August. Book early if you want to go, Gordes' Theatres des Terrasses is the in place to be seen for the wealthy cohort who own holiday homes in the region. Click here to view the Gordes events calendar (scroll way down the page to reach the July and August programme).
Avignon's Theater Festival is about to take off and with some 900 plays showcased, advertising space is at a premium. Getting in early is the name of the game : street posters were officially allowed as from 01 July and even though the Festival only starts on the 8th, see what our streets already look like ! Another good option is to secure space in shop windows but for that also you'd better get in early : this drugstore/hardware store's window is already almost full and I took the photo last week! What's missing is the public though - our streets are still very quiet. Just a few days to go...
If you think that when I look through my window I always see the same view, think again.
Is this the kind of sight that makes you (a) shriek? (b) faint? (c) run away to get the fly-tox? (d) go fetch your insect guide? (e) open the window to let the little guy out? (f) click away to view other skies at Skywatch Friday ?
4:30 pm, school is over and the summer holidays start tomorrow. I enjoyed following this sweet little girl and her mother walking home. Most parents in the city center here come and pick up their kids on foot or by bike. Can you see how narrow the streets are? Driving children to or from school would be impossible. This little girl was enjoying walking right along the sidewalk's edge. I remember doing that too. How about you? Did you walk to school, take a school bus or did your parents taxi you around? (Note: no uniforms in French schools)
End of year circus school show. I played with the depth of field to turn this portrait into an abstract.
1st of the month, theme day for City Daily Photo bloggers. Today's theme is empty.
