Feelings, opinions, moods after Avignon

Experiences from the festival, where numerous programs created special moments and I will also describe some personal experiences.

July 06, 2024, Saturday

I found my roller, untouched by anyone. Yesterday, around midnight, I arrived in Arles from Avignon. I left my roller in the police parking lot. It was waiting for me there last night, right where I left it. It would have been nice to stay a bit longer in the city to party, especially since there was retro music playing at the disco, but I had to draw the line somewhere. If I stayed, I would be too tired again on Saturday (today). I slept through the afternoon; I wanted to go into the city to pump up the roller wheels, but I thought it wiser to rest a bit.

I’ve been smiling all day, still under the influence of the weekend. How many shows did I see, seven? Plus, I peeked into a techno party, listened to a guitar concert, visited a museum, watched a soccer game, strolled along the riverbank, and even slept there. I will go back again, I’m just not sure if it will be next week or the week after. There’s a festival in Arles next week.

My good mood for the weekend started on the train. While listening to the song “Time After Time,” I wrote to myself that all it takes for happiness is a few kind moments.

Avignon is a great city. I would say it always impresses, but perhaps it’s interesting because it doesn’t need to impress, it’s just simply good to be there. It has a good atmosphere. It’s also true that it started with a bang, as five years ago I stumbled into the theater festival during my first encounter. Back then, I thought it was a street art parade because literally, there was an artist on every street corner. Two weeks later, when I was coming back, I still didn’t look up the theater shows, as there were performances everywhere in the open air. Now there are slightly fewer performances on the streets, but there’s still a plentiful amount, and there are so many flyer-hostesses promoting the theater shows that it’s a bit annoying. There were times when I was handed seven flyers in five seconds. However, it’s not obligatory to accept them, and in the end, I simply said no to anything that didn’t pique my interest.

It occurred to me, what do they use all these theaters for in the other eleven months of the year? As far as I could see, two-thirds of the venues are not temporary structures. For example, during my search on Thursday, the app threw in roughly 1,800 programs for that day. That’s a brutal amount! Most venues are in use from 10 in the morning until midnight. The performances are one to one and a half hours long. It’s a brutal amount. An overwhelming flood. That’s why I said it’s pointless to plan, search, and always just go with what I feel like or what comes my way. That’s how I ended up at an illusionist’s show, for example.

I have this strange sentence that even the bad shows were good 🙂 There were shows that won’t achieve professional success, like the jazz concert with a father and daughter, which contained traces of jazz, and the father covered his nervousness with an excessive amount of speech, while the daughter just wanted to play. They should have just let the girl unfold and do what she wanted; she just wanted to play music. Nevertheless, in that atmosphere, in the hustle and bustle, I think all five members of the audience enjoyed themselves. Perhaps that’s the essence…

I made a challenge out of the tango. Because I was intrigued by an Argentine tango recommendation yesterday: one of my former friends was an Argentine dancer. Referring to the late hour, I postponed the viewing. Next time, I consider it a challenge to confront my ex-girlfriend’s spirit.

They handed me a lot of flyers! I actually liked it because they didn’t just hand them out with a poker face, but always explained why what they were promoting was interesting. Their speech caught my attention, which is good. However, I won’t accept what doesn’t interest me. I wrote to myself, “It should at least be as useful as a roll of toilet paper!” But this way, I don’t know what to do with them; we’re just wasting our resources. Personally, it would be enough for me to take a photo of a QR code.

I feel like the play “The Musketeer Queen” is serving the audience. I don’t know and don’t want to judge whether this is good or bad. For example, the expression of disappointment is conveyed with a widely shared TikTok song (“0h no, no”) and the corresponding dance moves. That’s great because they are engaging a present-day audience, but again, the viewers didn’t learn anything new!

Perhaps there is now a common point in content creation and culinary arts. What we do is no longer relevant a few hours later in terms of freshness.

I wanted to stay a bit after midnight, so I also watched a female DJ’s performance. This party is like watching the music from “The Matrix” film. It’s not that bad, just strange to me; just like the electronic music in “The Matrix” (I think there’s a techno party scene in the second part) was strange to me in the late 90s.

Having two beers and then going to a show is steep. Even without it, the program promises a lot of fun. Looking back, I drank that beer after eating, and I can say it felt good in the warm weather.

It’s interesting that I don’t feel tired then or now. I made sure to take breaks. Just as I don’t spare energy for the theater, I also didn’t spare the hundred euros I spent on tickets.

The most memorable was the princess massacre. Where Snow White is black. “Where is it written that Snow White is of European origin? Don’t be Maril Le Pen!” Marie Le Pen, the radical political leader’s name is now used as a curse word; her name has become synonymous with prejudice and exclusion. Cinderella drinks, Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) does drugs. I liked this comedy. Or is it rather social criticism? Oh, and Cinderella rides the cat on a broomstick – she does this with a plush toy – in a funny way. This is also a thought-provoking scene that the audience takes home. By the end of the play, Cinderella and Belle fall in love with each other, they kiss. Occasionally, other fairy tale heroes appeared, such as Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), whose bra was replaced with a high-heeled shoe. It occurred to me that sometimes it’s truly surreal how female breasts and bodies are depicted. I loved the play’s subtle references.

As I said before, Marie Le Pen’s name is used as a curse word for prejudice. There were no people of color at the Thursday night protest, even though they now make up half of the population (Arabs, Africans) – in my opinion. It seems to me that those who were once immigrants themselves are indifferent to exclusion and the fight against immigration bans.

Five years ago, I had a conversation with a friend about how black people are the biggest racists. I would be very sorry if I were right; I hope I made an unfounded statement.