Sous les pavés, het strand

Sous les pavés, la plage was the slogan of May ’68 in Paris. But this spring we are not only commemorating that rebellion. in 2018 it is also half a century since Leuven university was divided into two linguistically: this was a consequence of the only major revolt by a young generation in Belgium. The youngsters, the post-war baby-boom generation, were led by the call for freedom and resistance to the established order which at the time resounded throughout the whole Western world.

50 years later, students from the two Leuvens – LUCA drama (Leuven) and the theatre course at the iad (Louvain-la-Neuve) – are building a new bridge across the language border. Their production Sous les pavés, het strand will not be a reconstruction of the turbulent 1960s, nor a stoking up of the Belgian language conflict, but a search for what might prompt students to revolt at the present time. There is no lack of reasons for resistance, but how is it to be realised in today’s world? How do you resist the temptation to look the other way? How do you reconcile a belief in the slowness and beauty of change with history itself, which often gives violence the last word? The makers of this piece seek a path between old and new concepts of revolution. Their answer will not be unambiguous, but multifaceted, multilingual and straight from the shoulder.