Avignon Festival 2005: The Body vs. Text Debate

In her 2005 essay for artpress, psychoanalyst Marie-Magdeleine Lessana examines the 'querelle d'Avignon' at the 2005 Avignon Festival, particularly critiquing Jan Fabre's contributions. She contends that the clash between traditional text-based theater and modern performance is a misleading separation, claiming that 'text' resonates with the audience's energy. Fabre’s *Histoire des larmes* embodies a 'mystico-nostalgic' perspective, yearning for a pre-modern physicality, which Lessana considers illusory. She highlights a conservative reaction against Fabre that resulted in the denunciation of avant-garde theater, while commending *La Place du singe* by Christine Angot and Mathilde Monnier for challenging the body/text divide. Lessana also reinterprets Fabre's phrase 'Je suis sang' as 'Je suis sans,' implying that creativity emerges from absence.