“Gembloux” is a theatre production of the Royal Flemish Theatre performed by two francophone actors of Moroccan origin: Sam Touzani and Ben Hamidou, both well connected into their own/local communities. What triggered the production: as a 16-year old Touzani’s father fought for the Allies in Montecassino (Italy). Touzani and co could not understand why his father and so many others were forgotten by history. They ‘found’ the cemetery in the Belgian city of Gembloux where 400 Maroccan tirailleurs are burried. After a lot of historical research they decided to structure their piece as the story of a fictional character ‘forced’ to leave his village in Morocco, transported to Gembloux, captured by the Germans,...untill his return. On this journey he meets all sorts of other characters. With a lot of humour, the piece tackles issues as racism, integration and (historical) memory.
The main objective was to make an excellent piece of theatre. But in Belgium the gap between French and Flemish theatre tradition/style is huge, bigger even than the gap between Flemish and migrant communities. When KVS as the ‘Flemish National Theatre’ decided to work together with francophone actors/writers of Moroccan origin and to coproduce with French theatres, this meant a lot at the institutional level. The KVS artistic team was quickly convinced by the content of the piece (after the reading in Jan 2003) but discussed and influenced thoroughly the staging. The fact that all the characters in the piece are performed by just two actors (who were also initial co-writers) is but one outcome of this fundamental artistic discussion; the abstract scenography, the bi-lingual aspect (with supertitles) are other examples.
“Gembloux” was a big succes. At its creation two 80-year-old “tirailleurs” came from France to receive the applause, which is still a top moment in KVS-history. “Gembloux” managed to attract mixed audiences (lots of people who never visited the theatre before) that can never be reached with Shakepeare or a contemporary repertoire. It showed the importance of creating new texts based on ‘common history’. WW II is considered by Belgians (and other Europeans) as a war of the West. Because of “Gembloux” many realised they share this chapter of history with people they cross on the streets today but with whom they can not imagine having any common ground.
KVS is funded by the Flemish Community, the City of Brussels and the Flemish Community Commission of the Brussels region
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