From one photograph to the next or how to touch the spectator – Avignon 2000, skin-deep

This paper critically reviews seven productions at Avignon 2000. The first was ‘Le chant perdu des petit riens’. This corresponds to visual and tactile perception bound to the hand and skin. ‘Le Petit Köchel’ is a story of Mozart devoured by the Heifetz sisters, two virtuoso violinists. The non-lyrical dry writing is made up of very dry statements that distance the observer; the result seems to resolve into an attractive ‘skin effect’ and a repulsive ‘bone effect’. In the ‘Ruines romaines’ relations between people are a field of ruins; individuals are obsessed by bad feelings and disgust. Bones stick out to signify the excessive fixity of ideals. In ‘Terres promises’ the enigma of textual and scenic images overwhelms the spectator; the subject wants to be guided by an organizing principle, the resemblances are explored at multiple levels. In ‘La Peau d'Elisa’ the relationship of flesh and clothing is emphasized; the main character can only communicate after eye contact. ‘Andromaque’ is a modern interpretation of a great classic. Finally ‘La Mouette’ shows the heroine immersed in feathers from a disembowelled pillow; the ambiguity of meaning is emphasized and the production is maintained between intellectuality and sensuality.