This year the Avignon festival is expected to feature 980 performances from 825 theatre companies from around the world. The 105 venues for the productions include cloisters, churches, the famous Papal Palace, an old stone quarry and school halls – all of which have been transformed to cater to the needs of theatre goers.

The festival’s menu is as varied and rich as Mediterranean cuisine itself.

Topics of war, exile and identity have been the key themes for creative director of the festival,

Photo by Christophe Raynaud de Lage

Canadian stage director of Lebanese origin Wajdi Mouawad, who had to flee his native country during the civil war.

Mouawad will also present his own production “Littoral, Scorched, Forest” in Avignon.

One of the highlights of the festival is a historic production by Israeli director Amos Gitai with legendary Jeanne Moreau in the limelight. “The War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness” is described as an “acoustic adventure, a spatial manifesto, an acting challenge.”

Russian artists from St. Petersburg’s “Comic Trust” company will present in France their famous clownish fantasy “White Story”, which features some of the key moments of world history.

The theater festival will run until July 29.