Avignon (France) – One of the most important theatrical performances in the world, the Avignon Festival, in the region of Provence, Alpes and Cote d’Azur, in the south of France, reaches its 76th edition with more and highlights for Brazil. . Opened on the last day 7, the festival continues until 26/7.

On the other hand, Festival OFF with 1570 performances, 1300 companies, 300,000 spectators waiting, 33,000 performances in 24 days, 1.7 million tickets sold and the ant work of 138 theaters involved. For a public that moves between one and the other, structural and administrative differences do not matter.

With numbers in superlatives, OFF is the main showcase of the company. 25% of the programs of the show in all of France come from him. So nobody saves. At all times, passers-by are given excerpts from the show. Children and adults flirt with characters who do not skimp on enchanting.

Music is everywhere, in a festive and healthy atmosphere. The playbill spread throughout the city and, as part of the sea of ​​people, artists. Brochures are distributed in droves, and there are no intermediaries in this role. The actors themselves, if they are not on the stage, call the audience, dressed in stage costumes or in civilian clothes.

In the end, in the face of so many choices, in the presentation of seconds, frank and done in private, that the spell is made or not, in a mixture of propaganda and the power of persuasion, as explained by the artist Joanna, who sings French music plays on her accordion, for followed by the battery.

MAGIC

“We are obliged to meet the public on the street, if we do not, we lose something. part of the magic and maybe the person who sees us here will see us in the theater too,” says the singer, who has been living in France for 20 years. An accordion is walking down the street. “The street is free, accessible to everyone. And during the festival, we can play anytime, anywhere,” she says.

And Brazil is not left out. This year the country is represented by five groups. Trs from Goinia (GO) selected in a public notice published by the State Foundation for Art and Culture. The presentations planned for 2020 had to be postponed for two years due to the pandemic.

For the first time at an international presentation, Grupo Zabriskie further fuels French interest in Brazilian politics with the show “O Brasil 2016 – A hora da sombra”, dedicated to the rise to power of the extreme right and the brutality of the capitalist system.

“To bring this show to life is a reason to be proud, to say that the theater that takes place in Goisa reflects what is happening in Brazil today. The theater is a reflection of the past and the solution of important issues, the flags of the struggle for democracy, for a just and humane country,” says actor, producer and assistant director Alexander Augusto.

Theater troupe Oops..! is “O Olho”, an adaptation of the short story “O corão revelador” by Edgar Allan Poe. A person who decides to prove to the audience that madness is on their side tells in detail about the crime he committed, with all clarity and clarity, making the viewer a witness and accomplice of his story.

“I introduce French words into the show and I also have a lot of dialogue with the audience, I play with them to interact in some way. After all, the theater goes far beyond understanding the text,” says actor and artistic director of the company, Ju Bosco Amaral. “We are funded by a Brazilian foundation, and speaking Portuguese is also a political act,” he adds.

TIKA

The words come out, as in a choreography, performed by a large bolero. The teacher has the opportunity to take revenge on the thief who prevented her from leading her peaceful life. “I don’t want to explain anymore, everything has been said, now it’s time to act. In a kind of interrogation, the concept of justice is discussed. The text asks from a dramatic, simple, real situation whether one should obey the bourgeois ethics or take justice into one’s own hands,” explains the artistic director of the show, Constantino Isidoro.

“The sound, the words that we vibrate here, are able to echo in the understanding of the audience. And whoever loves the theatre, must dare this different perception.”

Brazil is also represented by the company Quadrovivo, created by the actor Alexandre Babaioff for a tour in Avignon, with the play “Tom on the Hacienda” based on the work of Canadian writer Michel Marc Bouchard “Tom on the Farm”. And Companhia Projeto appears with “Uma mulher ao sol” about the Minas Gerais writer Maura López Canado (1929-1993), who spent a long time in psychiatric hospitals.

Festival OFF co-president Harold David laments the lack of a bigger presence in Brazil. “Participating Brazilian companies come on their own or with some support from state governments. We want to move forward in this relationship, ensure better acceptance and investment from Brazilian groups, and also seek reciprocity so that French companies can do the opposite,” he says.

“The festival’s role is also to facilitate meetings and exchanges between groups. Performances abroad allow you to artistically nourish yourself, get acquainted with other actors and cultures. An important international window for OFF and I am happy that the first exchanges with Brazil have taken place.”

The range of mounts has options for adults and children.

theater for all tastes, from classical to modern, for all ages, and Brazil is also present in French work. In the children’s musical play “A Wise Man in the Shape of a Monkey”, the complicity and memories of three friends are contrasted with a flea market and the myth of the three wise monkeys: what they do not see, what they do not hear, and what they know. do not slander by closing your eyes, ears and mouth respectively.

Ancient and pictorial objects form percussion tracks, while the cello sets the tone for fragments of life and the voices of a trio of actresses who question the key to happiness, prompted by oriental wisdom. “Do not ignore the evil that will disappear,” Serena Fisso, Ine Argo and Johann Matali say in the play. They sing and enchant, including Brazilian songs such as “Canrio do Reino” by Tim Maya.

“I am attracted to the songs of the world. Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese seduce me because musically they are very open languages ​​that make me travel,” says Serena. Hlne, a Parisian samba performer, shares the same passion. “Three monkeys are famous all over the world, so I didn’t want to reserve a spot just for Indonesia, where I’m from, and France. I love running down the runway with songs that kids don’t know but that make them travel,” concludes Serena, the playwright.

Leonardo da Vinci walks the streets of Avignon advertising “In the footsteps of Leonardo da Vinci” – a time travel made by the brothers Lisa and Lo, who travel back 500 years to tell children about the Italian Renaissance master and teach him how the present feeds on the legacy of the past and its essential transfer.

HOPE

“Da Vinci’s time was very difficult and special in history, with wars and famines like the one we are living in now. We need to give hope and show that we can achieve more, which Da Vinci always wanted, ”says the author of the play, Estelle Andrea.

How not to be enamored by Wet Chicken, who is sensibly bullying at school. Or even with Abelar. Based on the comic book, it tells the story of an ageless child who, armed with innocence, faces the hostility of the world. “We dare not, not because things are difficult, but because we dare not, they are difficult.”

The theme of time, the migratory wave in Europe, did not go unnoticed in “Some Fall in Cruelty”. In a caustic and furious mood, five actors and a musician act out the story of an African immigrant taken in by a bourgeois family in Paris, and all the contradictions and intrigues revealed with the arrival of Malik. “Political correctness” gives way to the hidden faces of our good conscience, which soon gets rid of prejudices and inconsistencies.