ABSTRACT
Shakespeare has been part of the repertoire of the major institutional theatres, Royal Flemish Theatre in Brussels, KNS in Antwerp and Netherlands Theatre of Gent (NTG) in Ghent. The presentation of Shakespeare's language in a restrained setting gave way to physical action in the second part, in which the stories of Henry V and Queen Margaret served as a transition to the cabaret-style high point of the production, the episode dealing with Edward IV and Richard III. A series of sell-out revivals and spectacular sales of the printed text followed, the first time in Flanders that a single production has been so treated. After the wars, real in ex-Yugoslavia, linguistic in Belgium, only wreckage remains. The multicultural capital of Europe, Belgium and Flanders is getting ready for the great changes of the millennium. As with Antwerp in 1993, the organisers of Brussels, Cultural Capital of Europe 2000, will ensure its presence in the streets and in the city's artistic life.
