Two half-brothers dream of winning the Tour of Flanders. They enter with their racing bikes and set them up on rollers. And just like that, the story starts rolling on its own. They descend. They climb. The stage determines the gradient.
For over ten years, the two brothers have been travelling the roads of Flanders, from one fairground race to the next. They know the cobbled sections like the back of their hand. It wasn’t long before Mourade (the younger brother) was spotted and recruited by Wim Willaert, a former Flandrien and team manager at a small Pro-Continental team. Mourade agreed, on condition that his brother Zouzou could ride for the same team. This much to the annoyance of team manager Tom Vermeir, who had serious doubts about the eldest brother’s capabilities as a ‘Flandrien’.
During the preparations, the brothers battle shoulder to shoulder, but when it comes to the podium, blinded by ambition, they outride each other. Who will be the first to zip up his jersey after 256 gruelling kilometres at this Flemish high mass to thank his sponsors and claim victory?
Wim Willaert (Offline, Red Sonja, Ex-Drummer), Mourade Zeguendi (Offline, Les Barons, De Vijfhoek), Tom Vermeir (A Brand, Kopergietery, Tg Ceremonia/Het Kip) and Zouzou Ben Chikha (Union Suspecte, Action Zoo Humain, Compagnie Cecilia) have long dreamed of creating a show together based on cycling.
From these creative minds, somewhere at the crossroads between a theatre production, a cycling race and a rock concert, Flandrien was born. A modern epic of Abel (Mourade) and Cain (Zouzou) about fratricide, the exact sciences and cycling, in which a number of pressing questions (Why is cycling white? Why do cyclists shave their legs? Who will be the first African Flandrien?) are examined from the perspective of the race in a refreshing and absurd manner.
Let yourself be immersed in a world of statistics, sleek cycling kits, flat tires, oiled calves, roaring guitars, and killer ambition, all under the expert cycling commentary of Michel Wuyts and Karel van Nieuwkerke.
Credits
- With and by
- Zouzou Ben Chikha, Wilm Willaert, Tom Vermeir, Mourade Zeguendi
- Coaching
- Chokri Ben Chikha
- Technical
- Niels Leven
- Costumes
- Marij De Brabandere
- Poster
- Sarah Geypens
- Production
- Action Zoo Humain
- With the support of
- the Flemish Government, the Province of East Flanders, the City of Ghent
- Special thanks to
- kc Vooruit, CAMPO, Geert Vandyck
