Côté Jardin Jean Vilar and Avignon, a photographic walk in the Jardin des Doms

ôté Jardin (Stage right) invites visitors to discover a series of thirty-some unique large-format photographs, displayed throughout the popular Jardin des Doms, the extraordinary gardens above the Palace of the Popes, where man first settled in Avignon.

These photographs are the result of in-depth research in the archives at the Maison Jean Vilar and other private and public collections. Many of them are being seen for the frist time, and all capture the vitality and the commitment of Jean Vilar and his troupe. They speak of the unswerving connection between the theatre and the Festival with the City of Avignon. These photographs are the work of Agnès Varda, Vilar's friend from Sète, and of Maurice Costa, his local friend, and all the other photographers who tracked the adventure of the Théâtre National Populaire in Avignon.

Côté Jardin, remains the unforgettable presence of those who forged another way of understanding, sharing and performing theatre: Jean Vilar and the entire troupe at the TNP, Gérard Philipe, Maria Casarès, Philippe Noiret, Silvia Monfort, Daniel Gélin… and many others.

These images show the other side of the stage - the wings and the Avignon nights. They show the work, the team spirit, the fatigue, the acting, rest time, family and alway, the clairvoyant presence of Jean Vilar who directed and invented, out of need, theatre under the sun, theatre far from Paris. They stand in testimony to the influence of Avignon in Jean Vilar's theatre. They convey the sterngth, the vitality and the joy of creating theater together, as it was yesterday is as it is today.

The exhibition has been extended to september 2024.

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