Le souffle d'Avignon

This summer, just before the trumpets sound in the Cour d'honneur of the Palais des Papes, the Souffle d'Avignon festival takes place in the gardens of the Palais des Papes. This series of readings highlights contemporary voices in theatre, offering authors a privileged space to share their often unpublished works. These readings, attended by the authors themselves, invite the public to discover current writing within a historical and symbolic setting, the birthplace of the Avignon Festival.

You’ll find here:
Wednesday, July 8 // Pathetic Human
An employee must complete a grant application or face dismissal. Overwhelmed, she explores every option, even the most radical. Loosely inspired by Georges Perec's *L'Augmentation*, the play veers into the absurd, where language falters and possibilities multiply. A journey between vertigo and humor.
By Romane Nicolas
With Barbara Ferraggioli, Laetitia Mazzoleni and Sébastien Piron
Proposed by the Transversal

Thursday, July 9 // The Persians
Aeschylus, marked by the war, does not celebrate victory. In The Persians, he chooses the point of view of the enemy and makes defeat an experience of fear, mourning and lamentation.
Written between Iran and the outside world, this adaptation questions the myth of a "just" or "preventive" war. By looking at the tragedy from the perspective of the vanquished, it reminds us that there are no true winners and that war distorts all truth.
Serious and necessary, it makes the stage a space to forcefully express a rejection of war – today more than ever.
By Aeschylus
With Amir Reza Koohestani
Presented by the Avignon Festival

Friday, July 10 // Flour Sundays / Yev
Flour Sundays
A man recalls his childhood in Lorraine, the son of Italian immigrants. In rich and poetic language, the narrative blends humor and lucidity, without resorting to self-pity. A monologue that touches the heart of our European histories, between personal memory and collective heritage.

Yev
Hunted down, a former political prophet confesses in a gas station restroom. In a world adrift, democracy teeters. Between satire and tension, the text gives rise to raw, unfiltered speech, where anger and derision collide.
By Serge Basso, Godefroy Gordet
Voiced by Aude-Laurence Biwer
With Pauline Collet, Maud Galet-Lalande, Fabio Godinho, Franck Lemaire
Suggested by Le Gueuloir

Saturday, July 11 // Lola and Alice / As Long as We're Here / A Temporary Disruption
Lola and Alice
Lola watches Alice, desires her, and is ashamed of it. Every night, a ritual unfolds. The text explores adolescence, its demands, the violence of norms, and the relationship to the body, between turmoil, desire, and self-rejection.

While we're here
A company attempts to evoke the memory of a vanished place. But voices multiply, a mix of recollections, fears, and traces of the past. In this fragile space, the theatre seeks to capture what slips away, at the crossroads of time and narratives.

A malfunction
At the Penalty, a bar in a village marked by decline, voices intertwine. The arrival of two city dwellers, intent on transforming memory into a tourist project, reignites tensions. The text explores the interplay between lived experience and official narrative.
By Pauline Collet, Fabio Godinho, Jeff Schinker
Voiceover by Franck Lemaire
With Pauline Collet, Maud Galet-Lalande, Fabio Godinho, Aude-Laurence Biwer
Suggested by Le Gueuloir

Sunday, July 12 // Not without obedience
Not without obedience
Between striking docks and television studios, the show explores pivotal moments. From the Henri Martin case to the Milgram experiment, and its reactivation as a television game show, it questions obedience and the legacy of these stories for today's generations.
By Anouk Darne-Tanguille
With Raphaël Bocobza, Lucile Chikitou, Pauline D'Ozenay, Nino Djerbir, Zélie Gillet, Léo Tasserit
Presented by Le Théâtre des Carmes

Monday, July 13 // Marvel
By Catherine Monin
With Thomas Fitterrer
Presented by the Théâtre du Chêne Noir

Wednesday, July 15 // Fighting Back! Claude McKAY
An evening where poetry takes center stage. Alain Damasio, Mike Ladd, and Lamine Diagne, along with the musicians of KAY, a letter to a vanished poet, bring the voice of Claude McKay to life. Through readings, slam poetry, and music, words flow and connect literary heritage with contemporary writing.
By Lamine Diagne, Alain Damasio, Mike Ladd
With Cédric Bec, Lamine Diagne, Alain Damasio, Mike Ladd, Wim Welker
Presented by the Théâtre des Halles

Thursday, July 16 // And I'm the one they lock up
A woman, alone in the city, recounts her journey through mental illness, a path of vertigo, excess, and collapse. In a deeply felt narrative, blending brilliance and realism, laughter emerges from the heart of her ordeal. A moment at the crossroads of the personal and the collective, driven by a surge of resilience.
By Philippa Motte
Adaptation by Didier Goupil
Voiceover by Xavier Bazin
With Claire Nebout
Sound and music creation by Esteban Fernandez

Friday, July 17 // The old women
In a small town plagued by unemployment, precarious living conditions, and youth despair, a social conflict of unprecedented scale is brewing. In solidarity with Nina, the elderly women—Man Do, Man Fifi, and Man Belle, all seventy years old—abandon their yearning for rest and join the fight.
By Gaël Octavia
Directed reading by Nelson-Rafael Madel
Offered by ETC CARAÏBES

Saturday, July 18 // I caught fire once and it never went out
In a burning forest, two women meet and share the remnants of a past relationship. Elsewhere, a voice rises, trapped in a place that failed to protect. Between memories and confinement, the text explores what endures and what burns away.
By Pascale St-Onge
Voiceover by Marie-Ève ​​Groulx
Proposed by the Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD) (Quebec/Canada)
Supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Michel-Marc Bouchard Fund

Sunday, July 19 // Wealth
Three women, born in 1924, 1973, and 2003, recount their lives, shaped by their era, their choices, and their struggles. Their stories, exploring themes of autonomy, desire, and legacy, resonate with one another. The text questions what it means to "be rich," beyond what one possesses.
By Vanessa Aiffe Ceccaldi
With Andréa Ferreol, Vanessa Aiffe Ceccaldi, Elfie Kluk
Presented by Théâtre du Chien qui fume


Free entry (subject to availability).
Reservations by email: scenesdavignon@gmail.com
Tickets can be collected on performance evenings, at the Palais des Papes (main entrance), from 17:30 p.m. to 18:15 p.m.
Any ticket booked and not collected at the latest 15 minutes before the start of the performance will be cancelled.

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED – Limited places