Everything looks as before. Or almost. The Festival “off” in Avignon has resumed its rights, since Wednesday July 7, in the streets of the city of the Popes. Thousands of performance posters cover the walls, poles or, tied to strings, float above the squares. Troops parade in period clothes or singing, members of companies distribute leaflets to attract festival-goers to theaters. Admittedly, it is not yet the big day crowd – the “off” takes place until July 31 and the peak of attendance is expected for the week of 14 – but nothing seems to have changed. The festival program listing 1,070 shows in 116 venues always looks like a heavy directory. We would almost forget 2020, dose horribilis where everything was canceled, closed, due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Some prefectural measures, enacted for health reasons, seem to have difficulty moving from theory to practice. Wearing a mask outside (supposed to be compulsory from noon to 2 a.m.) is little respected under the hot Avignon sun. As for the plans for one-way traffic for pedestrians in the busiest arteries, they seem, for the time being, inapplicable.
Aerate and disinfect
You have to go to the “off” places to perceive the “Covid effect”. If, in the streets, the leaflets pass from hand to hand, at the entrance of the rooms it is the spectator who tears up his ticket and slips the stump into a box before receiving a dose of hydroalcoholic gel in his hands. Of course, he must keep his mask on throughout the show. Most theaters – or almost – have reduced the number of time slots in order to respect a 45-minute beat between each performance. This new instruction is supposed to make it possible to ventilate and disinfect the rooms, to limit the crossing of companies in the boxes and of the public at the exit. A device for measuring carbon dioxide (CO2) and, or, an air purifier, new machines have appeared. And each theater had to designate a “Covid referent” in its team. But the QR code seems little used.
“We remained this year in the same schizophrenia as in 2020, navigating between the preparation of the festival and a potential cancellation. Prefecture, regional health agency, ward directors, we all worked in an emergency. The final protocol was not established until June 24 “, testifies Aurélien Rondeau, co-director of the Théâtre du Train Bleu, satisfied, like his colleagues, with the authorization of a 100% gauge. At the Blue Train, as in a good number of venues, all the shows canceled in 2020 have been postponed to the 2021 program. After this forced shutdown, the comedians and actresses cross say their “Happiness to be there and to finally find the public”, even if the uncertainty of attendance hovers.
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