Some festival directors prefer to be optimistic. After Thierry Frémaux, who has long believed in the chances of Cannes to maintain its 73rd edition (for the moment postponed, other avenues are being studied), the director of the Avignon Festival Olivier Py has " good hope " that the world theater meeting scheduled for July will continue.
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" For now ", the question of its cancellation " does not arise ", he says this Friday in La Provence . “ For the moment, the question does not arise. Afterwards, if the confinement is extended until July, the question will no longer arise ... For the moment, we are hopeful, "said the director of the theater festival, one of the most important in the world, and expected from July 3 to 23.
" Can we do exactly the festival we have planned? I hope, except for one episode. If the containment ends in early May, we can breathe. The risk is that in the forty shows that make up this program, there are many creations. The artists will have lost weeks of rehearsal ”, underlines Olivier Py.
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The director of the festival says he has so far received only one defection, from a South African production, for this 74th edition. The director who describes the situation of theaters as " apocalyptic " wants the establishment of a " moratorium " in terms of " rights " during the period of confinement.
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On March 18, Minister of Culture Franck Riester announced emergency aid for culture, hard hit by the coronavirus epidemic, of 22 million euros, including 5 for live performances. " It is a drop of water, but I know that there are dramatic situations everywhere, everyone is at the door of Bercy ", reacted Olivier Py.
The Festival d'Avignon brings together the largest number of professional theater companies in the world with the Edinburgh Festival. In 2018, it attracted some 151,000 spectators.