Belgian Rules/Belgium Rules

An ode to his crazy country

Just like Fellini made Roma – an ode to his city – Jan Fabre is celebrating his own complex, crazy country. He is doing so in the most appropriate language to capture the spirit of this slippery state: the language of the theatre and of images. With an international cast of performers and musicians, Fabre goes in search of Belgian identity, and translates it into a dance and theatre production. Raymond van het Groenewoud has written a series of anthems, while author Johan de Boose wrote the text. In Belgian Rules/Belgium Rules Fabre examines our self-image – who knows, it might lead us to have more empathy.

• In the late 1970s, the young Jan Fabre made his foray with sensational solo performances. Not long after, he sent shockwaves through the theatre world with the production It is Theatre as to be Expected and Foreseen (1982). Since then, he has become one of the most versatile artists on the international scene. Last season, he occupied Kaaitheater for an entire day with the monumental epic Mount Olympus.

Theatre lay at the foundation of Belgium’s birth, and theatre is what this little country remains.