I started work in the Roobroeck Farm in the Blocry district in the 1970s. A beet field, hay, manure and pigs in the courtyard, that's what was here then! Still, this is where it all started. From the start we shared it with the Institute of Broadcast Arts. The students were very happy to take advantage of our small concert hall. As it grew more successful, the marquee was no longer big enough to hold our audiences. A large auditorium was therefore opened in the town centre, the one in front of you. We inherited a building that was intended to house a university restaurant! So that meant it wasn't easy to find room for the stage sets, and the wings were very narrow. It didn't stop us, I saw all the famous appear here, film actors such as Michel Bouquet, Pierre Arditi, Jean Marais, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Francis Huster. All the artists who came to the theatre were won over by the friendly efficiency of the theatre workshop and the atmosphere of the place. Now it's your turn to have a taste of it!
Date created
Founded in 1968 and set up in Louvain-la-Neuve in 1975.
Sponsor
Armand Delcampe
Function
- University Theatre and Theatre Workshop.
- Creates and puts on classical and contemporary works by authors from Belgium and abroad.
Characteristics
- 3 auditoriums: Jean Vilar Theatre (400 seats), Blocry Theatre (116 seats) and Aula Magna (1100 seats).
- 75,000 to 90,000 theatre-goers per year.
To begin with
- A centre for dramatic art opened in Leuven in 1968. Armand Delcampe worked with the Jean Vilar team and founded the theatre workshop which several years later became the Jean Vilar Theatre Workshop.
- “Workshop” in memory of the artist Charles Dullin. “Jean Vilar“ in memory of the founder of the National Popular Theatre and the Avignon Theatre, who passed away in 1971.
To see
- The Assyrian Cylinder, a fountain sculpted in marble by Didier Rousseau.
- The Trompe l'oeil mural on the Grand-Rue by Jean-Marc Collier.
The hiddden side
The large hall, with a capacity of 400 seats, is accessible to people with reduced mobility. It features a 17-meter-wide stage and a 13-meter-high stage. The bleachers and seating have been renewed, as have the stage equipment and construction workshops.
Two artworks complete the project. On the exterior, on the rear façade, Pieter Vermeersch created a work characterized by gradients, typical of his work. Inside, his brother Robin Vermeersch, in partnership with Eva Moulaert (of the graphic design studio Dear Reader), were chosen for their project, which combines signage and ceramic tile installation.
Artists' corner
Jean Vilar was a French actor, as well as a stage and theatre director. He made his mark as a stage director with a very simple style, without a stage setting which broke away from the decorative method of the 1950s, and so started the “people's theatre”. Vilar was a man of the theatre who took the idea of making art accessible to as many people as possible in France the and further away. He became the benchmark in modern theatre due to his action and his writings.
Practical information
www.levilar.be
