Avignon 2009: Staging History, War, and Contemporary Social Plights

A substantial fraction of the major offerings at the sixty-third annual Avignon Festival dealt with the horrific consequences of civil wars, ethnically based violence, and the worldwide economic and financial crises. This roster partly reflects the input of Lebanon-born Wadji Mouawad, the Festival’s artiste associé, who—with artistic directors Hortense Archambault and Vincent Baudriller—shaped an ambitious yet often solemn program of theatrical events. Works conceived by Dieudonné Niangouna, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Pippo Delbono, and Claude Régy were among the Festival’s most artistically successful.