Tribute to Edward Bond and René Pollesch

  • Tribute

Thursday 7 March 2024

The Festival d'Avignon is paying tribute to two immense figures in the world of theatre who recently passed away, two artists who embodied the circulation of aesthetics and European collaboration: René Pollesch and Edward Bond.

Tribute to René Pollesch and Edward Bond Edward Bond (left): Frederic Nauzyciel and René Pollesch (right): Bahar Kaygusuz

Tribute to Edward and Bond René Pollesch

As Artistic Director of the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz since 2021, René Pollesch undeniably left his mark on the German contemporary theatre scene. In 2004, the Festival d'Avignon welcomed him for a performance of "Pablo in der Plusfiliale" at the Lycée Saint-Joseph. He invited the audience to question working conditions in a neoliberal world and to discover and invent new frontiers. More recently, he collaborated on the Franco-German production of Julien Gosselin's Extinction, programmed for the 77th edition at the same lycée Saint-Joseph.

The Festival d'Avignon remembers Edward Bond as a playwright and a major figure in British theatre. He never ceased to question his dramaturgy and to offer profound reflections on the art of theatre. He was widely performed in France, and was championed and directed by Alain Françon and Jérôme Hankins in Avignon. Audiences have been able to discover his works on the stages of the Théâtre Benoît XII and the lycée Saint-Joseph. Edward Bond leaves behind a legacy that transcends geographical boundaries.