When Weather Plays Spoilsport
Mumbai Theatre Guide
if you are unable to view the mail click here.
Wednesday, 23 July 2025
When Weather Plays Spoilsport
Audiences at the iconic theatre festival at Avignon, France, are suffering from unexpected heat waves afflicting all of Europe. Laura Cappelle reporting for The New York Times writes, "As a punishing heat wave swept through Europe last week, some cultural events had to carry on with the show. The Avignon Festival, one of Europe's largest theater extravaganzas, was just days from opening. And even as temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit, the festival's venues - many of them outdoors - still needed to be prepped."
In the best show-must-go-on spirit, Eve Lombart, the festival's general administrator said in the report, "“Within 12 hours, we had adapted.” Working hours for technicians building stages and sets were adjusted, with longer breaks in the afternoon; to compensate, technical teams started as early as 6 a.m. at some of the event's 40 venues. The swift adjustments were the result, Lombart said, of years of behind-the-scenes effort to adapt the festival to climate change.
Cappelle writes, "For Avignon and other events in the south of France, rising summer temperatures have become an existential threat. Days over 100 degrees Fahrenheit are no longer a rarity, with serious effects on audiences and workers. While air conditioning - less common in Europe than in other parts of the world - has been installed at most indoor venues, crowds typically walk from show to show throughout the day to catch as many productions as possible."
The heat is playing spoilsport at the event that attracts the best of theatre, for which connoisseurs travel to Avignon. Administrators and performing groups are thinking of long-term solutions, since climate change is now a real threat.
"The theatre is a spiritual and social X-ray of its time. The theatre was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation."
Stella Adler
Learn Photography with Shiresh R. Karrale Workshop
VAANI KISSE KAHANIYAAN AUR HUM
BOOKINGS NOW OPEN : EXCLUSIVE BLACK BOX THEATRE IN FOUR BUNGLOWS, ANDHERI WEST.
News
Upcoming Shows
Reviews
Workshops
Schedules
Website URL: mumbaitheatreguide.com
Address: B/8, Ground floor, Sahyog Apartment, SV Rd, opposite Lohana Mahajan Wadi, Kandivali West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400067 india.
Contact Number: 91.9892121148 / 9223251148
Email ID: resp...@mumbaitheatreguide.com
if you wish to unsubscribe to this newsletter, please click here
