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Valère Novarina, Radical Franco-Swiss Playwright and Painter, Dies at 83

Confirmation from his troupe to AFP marks the end of a five‑decade reinvention of language on the French stage.

Overview

  • Richard Pierre of the Union des contraires told AFP that Novarina died Friday at 83, with TF1 reporting the death occurred at the American Hospital of Neuilly.
  • He authored about fifty plays, most published by P.O.L, and his work appeared almost annually at the Festival d'Avignon.
  • Starting in 1986 he staged his own productions, bringing his drawing and painting into character design and stage décors.
  • His language-driven theatre drew divided reactions, from walkouts at L’Atelier volant in 1974 to a “mini bataille d’Hernani” for Le Drame de la vie at Avignon in 1986.
  • Recognitions included the Grand Prix du théâtre from the Académie française in 2007 and the Grand Prix de Littérature Paul Morand in 2020, with a final new staging in 2023 at Paris’s Théâtre de la Colline.