A show by French director Bruno Niver, scheduled for the Avignon Festival (south-eastern France), is threatened with being canceled for lack of visas for its Russian actors, the person told AFP on Monday.
Read also: The Avignon Festival forced to cancel a dance show because of the Covid
Entitled
Le Cabaret des Trois Sœurs
, the show is scheduled to be performed at the Off Festival, as part of the “Russian Seasons in Avignon” from July 10 to 25.
It "is in the process of being canceled for bureaucratic reasons," Niver explained.
"For more than 20 days the actresses and the technical team have been waiting for visas which can only be issued to them by the French Consulate in Moscow after the granting of an entry permit on French territory that the Quai d'Orsay is slow to deliver them, ”
he said.
“We were first told that we had to reduce the number of participants so we removed a few people. But we received another refusal. We no longer understand the reasons, ”
continued the director.
According to him, Paris invokes
“health reasons”
linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But
"we were not asked if we are vaccinated or not, they simply refused",
he added, criticizing
"an arbitrary and discriminatory health policy."
He says that around thirty people are concerned: his troop and those of other Russian establishments.
That of the theater of Norilsk, in the Russian Arctic, has already
"packed up"
and left Moscow
"not being able to wait any longer for a hypothetical turnaround"
, indicated Mr. Niver.
Contacted by AFP, the French embassy in Moscow did not immediately follow up.
Russia has been hit hard in recent weeks by a new deadly wave of Covid-19 due to the Delta variant, which is more contagious.
Read also: Masks compulsory but rooms 100% full and sanitary pass at the Avignon festival
The 2020 edition of the Festival d'Avignon, the most prestigious theater festival in the world with that of Edinburgh, had been canceled due to the pandemic.
This year, the wearing of the mask will be compulsory throughout the city center, but the halls will be able to accommodate as many spectators as usual.
The day before its inauguration, the Festival was deprived of a South African show due to contamination within the team, which remained blocked in its country.
