the director of The Théâtre des Amandiers, Nanterre, Philippe Quesne don rempilera not for a third term and will leave his post end of 2020 due, he explains in Release, “contempt” of the arts of the municipality. “I find it responsible for the team that remains, let the chance to appoint my successor as early as this year,” said the director on Tuesday to justify the announcement premature departure.
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Philippe Quesne, who leads since 2014 the Centre dramatique national (CDN) Nanterre-Amandiers, questioning the mayor Patrick Jarry (KVD), ex-communist). “I said that he did not understand what is programming and has not ceased to formulate a contempt for artistic absolute towards us”. Then he clarified his position by adding: “The tensions between a theatre manager and a mayor, that happens, but we are in an era that is going to harden, and where there are no more arbitration of the State”
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A small proportion of Nanterriens to the almonds
The municipality has replicated immediately via a press release arguing that “the link between the Theatre des Amandiers and Nanterre, its people, its structures and cultural actors has been greatly weakened” under the mandate of Philippe Quesne.
In the same text, the council recalled that “the proportion of spectators nanterriens has fallen to 10%, while the share of the public a native of the city is 41% at the Centre dramatique national de Montreuil, from 38% at the Théâtre Gérard-Philippe, Saint-Denis, 36% at the Théâtre de la Commune d’aubervilliers”. “And since always, one of the missions of the Theatre des Amandiers is to ensure that its actions within its jurisdiction and to develop local partnerships,” adds the municipality.
Asked Tuesday on the fringes of his visit to the festival of Avignon, the minister of Culture, Franck Riester said: “there is a director who does not wish to continue, which has poor relations with a local official (…) I don’t have the feeling that there are sticks in the wheels made by the State under the pretext of following the mayor against the director”.
first simple House of Culture in 1969, the théâtre des Amandiers has become a national Centre for drama in 1982, under the leadership of its first director Patrice Chéreau. The theatre will soon be undergoing renovation, which is expected to begin in 2020 and last for two years. In the meantime, it “will continue its activity in temporary premises,” according to the municipality.
