L'oriflamme

There are three clean restrooms, including one that's accessible, which is rare and worth mentioning. The seats are comfortable and laid out well, and little booster cushions help you get a good view of the performers. From the entrance through to your seat, the welcome stays warm. For such an intimate venue, the theatre feels quite modern. It's part of the experience.

You need to arrive very early because the theatre is uncomfortable and you can barely see the stage from beyond the fifth row. The catch is that the show queue forms outside in the street facing south, so be ready for a lot of sun :o(. The layout is poor and I wouldn't recommend the place. Avignon has plenty of good theatres.

The program is high quality, and it's one of the festival's most popular theatres. The place feels warm and festive, with a real sense of community between the companies performing there. The artists who run it create a joyful, genuine, supportive atmosphere. It feels like artists' work, not businesspeople's.

The play, "Blessed Are the Orphans," was excellent and original. The small theatre itself was badly laid out, with every seat directly behind another. Even from the third row it was hard to see the stage, and I had to crane my neck.