The 79th edition of the Avignon Festival, which will be held next July in southeastern France, will highlight the Arabic language, described as the "language of light" and knowledge. The organizers thus wish to "pay tribute" to it in the face of "hate mongers."
This major international theater event, scheduled for July 5-26, will feature 42 works for a total of 300 performances, including 32 new productions from 2025, according to the program unveiled Wednesday by festival director Tiago Rodrigues in Avignon and on social media. He emphasized that the program is distinguished by "perfect parity."
An opening in dance
The festival will open in the main courtyard of the Palais des Papes with a dance performance titled "Not," inspired by the Arabian Nights. It is by Cape Verdean choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas, one of the leading figures in contemporary dance and winner of the Golden Lion at the 2018 Venice Biennale.
Rodrigues praised Freitas' ability to create "visual images and poems on stage," noting that his dance combines "bodily intensity with the density of philosophical thought."
Arabic, guest of the festival
From Avignon, the festival director described Arabic as a "language of light, dialogue, knowledge and transmission," lamenting that it is "too often held hostage in a highly polarized context by merchants of violence and hatred, who associate it with ideas of closure, isolation and extremism."
Choosing Arabic as the guest language, he says, means "facing political complexity rather than avoiding it," and "believing in the power of art to create spaces for debate and understanding."
It is also, he added, about celebrating the fifth most spoken language in the world and the second in France.
Twelve performances and events related to the Arabic language or its traditions are on the program. Guest artists include Moroccan Bouchra Ouizguen (participatory performance), Lebanese Ali Chahrour (dance, music, theater), Tunisians Selma and Sofiane Ouissi (dance), Moroccan Radouan Mriziga (dance), French-Iraqi Tamara Al Saadi (theater), Palestinians Bashar Murkus and Kholoud Basel (theater), and Syrian Wael Kadour (theater).
A tribute to Oum Kalthoum
The great Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum, nicknamed "the Star of the Orient" and who passed away 50 years ago, will be at the heart of a musical project led by Lebanese Zeid Hamdan. It will bring together singers Camélia Jordana (French), Souad Massi (French-Algerian), and French-Algerian rapper Doniien, after a first performance at the Printemps de Bourges festival.
An evening entitled Nour, combining concerts, shows and readings, will also be organized in partnership with the Arab World Institute in Paris.
The festival also includes debates, conferences and "ideas cafes", with the participation of Franco-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, Lebanese journalist Nabil Wakim and Palestinian writer Elias Sanbar.
Tribute to Jacques Brel and committed readings
In Boulbon's career, a tribute will be paid to the Belgian singer Jacques Brel by the Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and the French dancer Solal Mariotte, from breakdance.
With the Vienna Festival (Austria), an evening of dramatized readings will be dedicated to the Mazan rape trial, inflicted on Gisèle Bellico, who was drugged and raped by unknown assailants with the complicity of her ex-husband. The event is directed by playwright Servan Dekel and director Milo Rau.
Loyal and newcomers
Festival regulars include major directors such as Germany's Thomas Ostermeier, who will present Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck, and Switzerland's Christoph Marthaler, with his 2025 creation The Summit. The "radical theatre" of François Tanguy, who died in 2022, will also return.
The main courtyard will also host Paul Claudel's The Satin Slipper, directed by Éric Ruf, director of the Comédie-Française — a major work in the festival's history.
According to Tiago Rodrigues, “ more than half of the artists (58%) are performing for the first time in Avignon " Among them are Danish dancer Mette Ingvartsen and Albanian multidisciplinary artist Mario Banushi.
Finally, the festival director will present his latest creation, La Distance, a dark piece that tells the story of a part of humanity forced to flee the consequences of global warming... by taking refuge on Mars.
