In and Off - a tale of two festivals

The 65th Avignon Festival (July 6-26) is dedicated to contemporary experiments in dance, music, visual arts and performance art, as well as theatre. Dozens of works have been specially created. All this artistic seriousness coexists with the anarchy of the unofficial Off festival (July 8-31) with its astonishing 1,000 plus productions.

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The Avignon Festival, unlike Scotland's Edinburgh Festival, has not been engulfed by the larger fringe. But it has been given a new name – le In.

The official festival was founded in 1947 by actor and director Jean Vilar. The first play was Shakespeare’s Richard II with Gérard Philippe in the courtyard of the Papal Palace. A generous restaurant owner fed the players.

Vilar, saw the festival as a means of ''democratising'' culture in the wake of World War II.

Almost 20 years later, in 1968, he said the mission was to free culture from the grip of ''bourgeois and capitalist society, which is crushing us '.' Today the Avignon festival is an international celebration of the performing arts that receives millions of euros in subsidies.

The Off, by contrast, receives no public support. André Benedetto was the first director to present a show outside of the official festival - Napalm in 1966. In 1968, an Off play - La Paillasse aux Seins Nus (The bare-breasted clown) - was actually banned.

The Off is a reminder that Avignon is not only a stage but also a market for theatre. A place where companies of all sizes, from the four corners of the world, come to fight for recognition.

They cover the medieval city in posters for the entire month of July, offering something for every audience: street-theatre, circus, dance, music, classical and modern plays. When not on stage, many actors from the Off distribute handbills or perform in parades. The streets of Avignon become a spectacle in themselves.