Theatre
The earlier theatre generation of Genet , Anouilh and Camus , joined by Beckett and Ionesco , hasn't really had successors. In the 1950s, Roger Planchon set up a company in a suburb of Lyon, determined to play to working-class audiences. It became the Theatre Nationale Populaire, the number-two state theatre after the Comedie Francaise, and now does the classics with all due decorum. Bourgeois farces, postwar classics, Shakespeare, Racine and Cyrano de Bergerac make up the staple fare in most theatres. But certain directors in France do extraordinary things with the medium. Classic texts are shuffled to produce theatrical moments where spectacular and dazzling sensation takes precedence over speech. Their shows are overwhelming: huge casts, vast sets - sometimes in real buildings never before used for theatre - exotic lighting effects, original music scores. They are a unique experience, even if you haven't understood a word. Directors' names to look out for are Peter Brook (the English director who has been in Paris for decades; he is based at the Centre Internationale de Creation), Ariane Mnouchkine , Patrice Chereau and Jerome Savary . Cafe-theatre , literally a revue, monologue or mini-play performed in a place where you can drink and sometimes eat, is probably less accessible than a Racine tragedy at the Comedie Francaise. The humour or puerile dirty jokes, wordplay, and allusions to current fads, phobias and politicians can leave even a fluent French speaker in the dark. In cities other than Paris, the theatres are often part of the Maisons de la Culture or Centres d'Animation Culturelle; local tourist offices usually have schedules and tickets are not expensive. The two major theatre festivals are the Festival Mondial du Theatre in Nancy (June) and the Festival d'Avignon (July).
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