Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui / Eastman - Vlaemsch (chez moi)

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui together with his creative team and the international dancers of Eastman explore and confront what it is to be Flemish…

Eastman in Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s ‘Vlaemsch (chez moi)’. © Filip Van Roe

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui / Eastman
Vlaemsch (chez moi)
★★✰✰✰
London, Sadler’s Wells
18 September 2025
www.east-man.be
www.sadlerswells.com

Hier is alles wat je moet weten over Vlaemsch (chez moi): Bleek dat naar verf kijken veel leuker zou zijn… Dat is misschien wat overdreven, maar hoewel af en toe spannend… zijn saai, sloom en traag de belangrijkste conclusies. (zoals altijd is dit alles onderhevig aan de grillen van computervertaling!)¹.

Vlaemsch, which is another way of spelling “Flemish”, explores what it means to be Flemish today amidst the weight of the past and expectations. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is half Flemish and naturally questions what state, governance and community mean in Flanders — the northern Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Cherkaoui enlists the support of other Flemish artists: visual artist Hans Op de Beeck, costume designer Jan-Jan Van Essche and musician Floris De Rycker together with his Ratas del Viejo Mundo music ensemble.

Antwerp-based Eastman, Cherkaoui’s company, provides the acting and dance foil for the work; a truly international group, they might live in Flanders, but for the most part, they have no deeper connection. So, there are many perspectives and issues to explore, and at 1 hour and 40 minutes straight through, nobody seems to have been too fussed with making points pithily or clearly at times. It’s a long ramble that might resonate in Flanders, but really doesn’t travel as well as the creatives involved would have hoped.

The confrontation of all things Flemish uses poetry, song, narration, acting, slapstick and dance to make points. The language used for much of this is Flemish, with some French, possibly German/Dutch, and English at times. Occasionally, there are surtitles for the narrative, but often there are not. The factsheet for the show includes many pages of translated song lyrics, but life seems too short to try to thread it all together, and it would certainly be impossible to do in real-time. It’s a frustrating approach to narrative.

The strengths of this production lie in the singing and musicianship generally. Much use is made of choral singing and also traditional European and Oriental instruments, and it can sound heavenly — even if you can’t understand the lyrics. The set, a sectioned two-storey house painted all white, proves adaptable, allowing the dancers and singers to wander around as if it were a real house — there is a lot of stage sparkle and action.

Different narrators are used to make various points — some generic and some very specific to Flanders. There are general remarks about what it is to be a woman in a male-dominated world, LGBTQ+ perspectives, while an old lady reflects on the past and modern change. There is also a section on politics, Belgium voting statistics and the rise of the right-wing who seek independence for Flanders. Overlaying this are skits on painting and the great tradition of old masters (Leonardo’s Last Supper amusingly crops up). Morphing along, picture frames are used to labour the point about us all having different perspectives and needing to expand our horizons. A Jesus figure wanders through from time to time and a topless Virgin Mary(?) jigs around only semi-connected to her robes. I’ve no real idea why, nor for all the pram pushing either. As the night slowly grinds on, there is a strange attempt at audience participation around differences between West and East Flanders.

As such, Vlaemsch (chez moi) is not a show strong on dance; there’s a lot of acting, parading around, shifting of the set and listening to singing. Eastman is a diverse mix, with each member a stage magnet in their own way. However, no amount of stage magnetism can compensate for a show that, while heartfelt, simply meanders and does not present very well outside its home geography. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Eastman have had many hits over the years and will bounce back.