Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: Nicolas TUCAT / AFP 07:10, July 25, 2023

The Avignon festival, brought together nearly 115,000 spectators for its 77th edition, announced Tuesday the organizers of the event. Started on July 5, attendance at the festival has increased this year, and reached a "94% attendance rate" for paid admissions.

The Avignon festival, one of the largest theatrical events in the world, has gathered nearly 115,000 spectators for its 77th edition, announced Tuesday the organizers. Started on July 5, the event ends Tuesday, with a "total attendance forecast" of "114,600 entries" (against 105,260 in 2022). That is a "94% attendance rate" for paid admissions.

The 2023 edition took place over 21 days (one day more than in 2022), for the first time under the leadership of new director Tiago Rodrigues, who succeeded Olivier Py (2013-2022). This 77th edition stood out with "56% of projects carried or co-led by a woman". The program highlighted two directors for the opening. In "Welfare", Julie Deliquet, director of the Théâtre Gérard Philipe-Centre Dramatique de Saint-Denis, shone the spotlight on the marginalized, in the courtyard of the Palais des papes. For her part, hip-hop choreographer Bintou Dembélé made performers and spectators stroll with her performance "G.R.O.O.V.E.".

A festival shifted next year because of the Olympics

The festival was also placed under the sign of English, with plays by British playwrights Tim Crouch, Alistair McDowall and Alexander Zeldin, Tiago Rodrigues having launched the idea of guest languages. In 2024, the guest language will be Spanish, which "like English is a European language with a global presence," said Tiago Rodrigues. "There is also a new generation of artists in South America, which has not yet been discovered at the European level," added the director.

The 2024 edition will notably welcome the Argentine director Mariano Pensotti. Among the other artists already announced, there will be Caroline Guiela Nguyen ("Lacrima"), revealed in 2017 with her play "Saigon" while Tiago Rodrigues will present a preview of an "original creation", "Hecube" based on the work of Euripides with the Comédie Française. The festival will start earlier next year, on June 29, due to the Paris Olympics, and end on July 21, with two more days compared to the 2023 edition.