21,000 spectators for “Romeo and Juliet” at Villers Abbey: a great success and a touch of bitterness
The summer show in the ruins of the abbey of Villers-la-Ville was full this year. The tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” generated some 21,000 people, an average of 850 admissions per performance. Only two evenings had to be postponed due to rain.
“We obviously had this concern, what was going to be the behavior of the spectators after two years of Covid, explains Patrick de Longrée, producer. But the public came back in droves. Obviously, he ignored all these old constraints and found his way back to Villers-la-Ville.”
The organizers are therefore very satisfied. But at the time of the balance sheet, they still address a small spade to the Minister of Culture in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Bénédicte Linard, who did not grant them a subsidy this year. A first in 36 editions.
“I think any minister would be keen to support what works well, to be able to expand the audience even further, to be able to do even bigger productions, to hire actors and artistic collaborators. So granting grants to projects that work make them work even more. I don’t think the current minister has understood that.”