France Guide
Provence
The Roman theatre
Opening time: Daily: March & Oct 9.30am–5.30pm; April, May & Sept 9am–6pm; June– Aug 9am–7pm; Nov– Feb 9.30am–4.30pm
Price: €7.70, including audioguide and combined ticket with museum
Days off in Orange c.55 AD were most entertainingly spent from dawn to dusk watching farce, clownish improvisations, song and dance, and occasionally, for the sake of a visiting dignitary, a bit of Greek tragedy in Latin at the huge Roman theatre built into the hill which squats on the south side of the old town. Despite its impressive dimensions, the theatre was by no means exceptional for a city of Orange's size, but today it's the best-preserved example in Europe, and makes for a stimulating visit. The excellent audioguide (in English) paints an evocative picture of the theatre and its 10,000-strong audience, while clearly taking you through the various statues and pillars on the inside of the stage wall.
The best view of the theatre in its entirety is from St-Eutrope hill. You can follow a path up the hill either from the top of cours Aristide-Briand (montée P. de Chalons) or from cours Pourtoules (montée Albert-Lambert) until you are looking directly down onto the stage. The ruins around your feet are those of the short-lived seventeenth-century castle of the princes of Orange. Louis XIV had it destroyed in 1673 and the principality of Orange was officially annexed to France forty years later.
Orange's main festival is the Chorégies, a programme of opera, oratorios and orchestral concerts in July – details and tickets from the Bureau des Chorégies, 18 place Silvain ( 
04.90.34.24.24, 
www.choregies.asso.fr ). The theatre is also used throughout the year for jazz, film, folk and rock concerts. Details of ticket prices from the Service Culturel de la Ville, 14 place Silvain ( 04.90.51.57.57). Tickets for all events can be bought from FNAC shops in all big French cities, and at the theatre box office in Orange.
The municipal museum (same hours and ticket as theatre) might seem like small fry compared to the theatre just opposite, but it does house some worthwhile Roman artefacts, taken from the theatre: fragments of land registries, a couple of sphinxes and a mosaic floor. The two upper levels are dedicated to the Gasparin family, who promoted the safeguarding of Roman Orange, and are filled with family portraits, mementoes and a reconstructed salon.