click on the imageEleven years ago Tom Dewispelaere, Ben Segers, Stijn Van Opstal and Geert Van Rampelberg felt the need to do their own thing, independently of a director, and so they set up their actors' collective Olympique Dramatique. Uninhibited by any political correctness but with tremendous generosity of spirit, Olympique Dramatique makes mostly brazen, physical productions packed with humour and violence and a good quantity of testosterone, as exemplified by De Krippel (The Cripple), De kale zangeres (The Bald Soprano), The Lieutenant of Inishmore and De Jossen.
Olympique Dramatique is always looking for new challenges. In De geruchten (The Rumours) they allowed themselves to be 'restrained' by Guy Cassiers, with Kunstminnende heeren (Art-loving Gentlemen) for once they did not start from an existing text, and with Adams appels they ventured into the world of the musical together with Dominique Pauwels. Last season they made two coproductions with KVS: Titus Andronicus with Raven Ruëll and In de strafkolonie / Het hol (In the Penal Colony / The Burrow) with Bart Meuleman, which is being revived in the autumn.
A revival of Het litteken lip with Pieter De Buysser and Wouter Hendrickx is also planned for that same period. And this season the Olympiquers have again turned to a director. By spring 2011 the Dutch theatre-maker, film-maker and painter Alex van Warmerdam (De Mexicaanse Hond / Orkater) will have written a new play for them, currently entitled De Nieuwe Mexicaanse Hond (The New Mexican Dog). But first the four gentlemen would like to share their enthusiasms with us during Soirées Olympiques at the Bourla in a week of concerts, plays and evenings of mixed entertainment with friends and kindred spirits.
