Brussels-born Pierre Thys has come back to Brussels thanks to his role as General and Artistic Director of the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles. Since 2021, he has set the tone with a program which puts body theatre at its centre. One of the theatre’s most experimental projects opened in late spring 2025 and can be experienced outside of the theatre itself.
We have met up in a very special place to do this interview: Maison Gertude, an art centre implemented in a nursing and senior care home, Residence Sainte-Gertrude, in the centre of Brussels, Marolles. Could you please describe this place and project?
Maison Gertrude has been developed as a collaboration between many parties. The idea, to situate an art centre within a care home, stems from the artist and director Mohamed El Khatib who is an artist in residence at Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles at the moment. During the research for his production ‘The Secret Life of the Elderly’ in 2021, Mohamed met up with residents in an elderly home in Chambéry, France, and following a discussion with the facility's director, he began considering how to establish a lasting connection between art and the daily lives of these elderly people. This is how the idea of creating permanent art centres in nursing homes was born. Maison Gertrude is the second project of its kind, conducted by the artist and supported by Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles
As the director of a theatre, how would you describe the intention of engaging in a project like this, set outside the walls of the theatre stage and building?
Maison Gertrude is an exciting part of the program at Theatre National which I’ve been developing since I began in 2021. We started discussing this specific project with the managers of the care home about two and a half years ago. Géraldine Maes, who organises the activities in the care home on a daily basis actually contacted the theatre with the idea of doing this together. If I look back at my career in theatre, I have set up both classical pieces and more experimental projects like Maison Gertrude. I have many different ideas for our program which is probably also how and why I ended up in this position.
Who goes to the theatre today is an important question to ask. I believe it’s crucial with a mixed audience, coming from different social classes and with different backgrounds. And in order to reach a mixed audience, you sometimes have to leave the stage and building to find the audience where they are. That’s what we’re doing at Maison Gertrude. Marolles, here in the centre of Brussels, is inhabited by locals, and as opposed to other capitals with expensive real estate situated in the centre, most people living here are from the working class. In terms of budget, rental costs stay accessible in Marolles. Brussels citizens really live here which brings a very human dimension to the area. And for the art centre project, it was a perfect match. At first, it was a bit difficult to explain the idea and intention of Maison Gertrude to the staff at the theatre. It took some time to convince them that this would be a good and constructive project for us to be part of. We also propose more traditional theatre and dance performances at the theatre but here we reach an audience who would have otherwise never set foot in the theatre.
Why is it important for the theatre to include this human and inclusive aspect?
How do we define culture today? It has to be accessible to everybody. As a theatre we have an essential role to play regarding humanity in this world which is often brutal and aggressive. Politicians are choosing to spend more on defence and less on culture. Art has to continue to humanise society. The theatre is a carrefour of art, we’re at the intersection of what creates a society. And we need to extract ourselves from the physical space, the stage, we need to get out of our institution, our box, and meet people. The residents at the care home now come to the theatre to watch our plays. We organise that they get picked up in a taxi and brought home again safely.
Before working at Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles I worked at Théâtre de Liège, and I definitely brought some of the dynamic and ideology with me from there. I even brought a colleague with me, Isabelle Collard, PR Manager at Theatre National and the one project managing Maison Gertrud for us. Earlier, she left a rather snobbish theatre culture to study teaching and after having taught for some years, she came back to the cultural scene but with a new view on it. We share the same ideologies. At Théâtre National we offer a multidisciplinary program where the body takes up the centre of attention. It’s a theatre of the body. The body is more expressive than words. And you see that here at Maison Gertrude, all these people and their bodies, they are very present and expressive. Our program is more about relation than representation. I usually define our vision with five keywords: imaginative, common, creative, desirable and solidary.
How do the residents from the care home take part in the creative activities around Maison Gertrude?
The art centre is situated inside the spaces of the care home, from the garden, to the hallways, the library, the canteen and even the residents’ personal rooms. 12 artists were asked to create site specific work and for several of them, the residents have taken part in the creation of them, either in the development phase or the production phase. One resident, who used to work with wood, helped build the new library. An amazing story as he almost never left his room before but suddenly, he had a purpose and a mission. Another resident turned out to be very talented in crochet and one of the artists made her and his portrait in crochet. Stories like this can evolve outside of the theatre if they happen off stage, and we as a theatre can involve a much larger audience. Each time an art work was finished, we invited the residents for a small vernissage which always ended in a party. People who hadn’t danced in decades were suddenly on the dance floor. This project has evolved step by step and with time, the residents involve themselves more and more. We opened on the 24th of May and in the future, Maison Gertrude is open for visitors once or twice a month with residents taking part in the guided tours as well.
Marolles is a special area in Brussels, so diverse and yet so one of a kind. Do you think that the care home’s interest in this type of project is linked to its location?
There is a chaotic dimension to this area, which could be said about the whole of Brussels in fact. This dimension creates something soft at a human scale. The parks, the cinemas, you never have to wait in line - Brussels still feels like a small city. I’ve worked in Marseille and in Liége and during those years, I missed Brussels. There is this attitude called ‘zinneke’, a word from the Brusselian dialect which refers to bastard dogs. Brussels is such a multifaceted city and the local attitude is very strong here in Marolles. Gentrification is happening everywhere but in Brussels it's happening rather slowly luckily. It remains an eclectic place with eclectic people. Maison Gertrude is full of them. Life can be hard and complicated here but it's human and open spirited.
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Pierre is one of the 73 locals who has generously contributed to our city guide 'Brussels by locals' by sharing his favourite spots in town.
Interview: Sisse Bro
Photography: Stephanie De Smet