Festival d'Avignon
Nicolas and I go to the Avignon festival every year. We see 4 to 5 shows during the day. We start around 11:00 am and finish around 22:30 pm and return around midnight / 1:00 am, after having dinner. Avignon is 1 hour from the lodgings “In the shade of an olive tree” so very easy to do during the day. It’s an intense day, yes, but so interesting and entertaining!
Those who do not want to see paid indoor shows can take advantage of the free street shows. It’s a great atmosphere in the streets of Avignon with troupes that declaim their verses, acrobats, dancers, mimes, etc … There is classical theater but also popular. Laughter lovers will favor boulevard pieces or “stand up” but there are also dance, music and magic shows. Children will be able to see shows put on for them. The choice is vast. It is worth going there at least once for the atmosphere there: the children love it!
A little history
It was Jean Vilar who founded the Avignon Festival in 1947. Every year in July, Avignon turns into a giant theater with dozens of large and small rooms, in places of architectural heritage or in dedicated places transformed for the occasion. There is the iN festival at the start with officially invited troupes, but in parallel, the OFF festival was created with troupes that were not originally selected by the festival management. All this has evolved well and now between the IN and the OFF we offer hundreds of very different shows. It is a mixture of cultures, learned and popular that will delight the most numerous. But beware, if you go there once, you can only come back, you will be so delighted.
