Avignon '77

The notes which follow will be necessarily fragmentary. Avignon, an annual theatre carnival, is a mutable cloud mass in the cultural heavens and it would be futile to attempt to circumscribe it in its entirety. We will limit our analysis, therefore, to perceptions of a few novel phenomena, preceded by some introductory remarks. In the last few days of July, the Professional Union of Dramatic and Musical Critics organized a colloquium at the Chapelle Des Penitents Blancs, to celebrate its centennial. This significant colloquium, to which a special issue of Tbh~tre Public will shortly be devoted, clearly established that the theatre profession in France is now traversing a critical period, due not only to unfavorable socio-economic conditions, but also to the impotence and disarray of the critics themselves, faced with the anarchic and unheralded proliferation of theatre events throughout the country. (Yet, for Antoine Vitez, for example, this is rather to be interpreted as a sign of hopeful vitality.) On the other hand, the Maisons de la Culture are directly threatened by severe budget cuts, throwing a harsh light on the predominant influence of the state, whereas the criteria underpinning governmental decisions in this area have not been clarified to the satisfaction of the profession. Caught in a cross-fire, the critics are increasingly aware of their own malaise. Wavering between their role as informateurs (but the choice of data one disseminates is never naive) and a more elevated mission defined by Gilles Sandier, namely: to detect and promote a mutation of conscience. Can the critic become a fellow traveller of the creative artist, wedding himself (or herself) to the in-depth elucidation of the creative work as it progresses from one performance to another? Or should he/she rather remain an enemy within the walls of the fortress, as Mathieu Galey suggested, refusing to learn anything extraneous to what is seen on opening night? (The artist perceived as a contagious disease?) The colloquium could only raise these questions anew and turn the knife in the wound, since theater reflects the contradictions and conflicts at work in society. Yet it must be said that the offerings this year did little, on the whole, to alleviate the mental confusion and to appease the irritability of French drama critics. But let's be fair. Although there was no master-stroke, no undisputed coup de g6nie by which yard-stick all other events might be smugly classified for posterity, there were, nonetheless, a small number of thought-provoking performances, providing

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