The Magic Land Théâtre, a collective adventure

Born in Lyon in 1951 into a “very simple” family, Patrick Chaboud was seventeen in May 1968. At twenty he volunteered in a kibbutz in Israel, an experience that changed his life. Back in Sweden, he gathered some thirty people of twelve nationalities and founded the Magic Land Commune, the collective's first name (English was their shared language, hence the name), which later became the Magic Land Théâtre.

The group left Sweden in two vans and stopped in a Pyrenean village: it built puppets, played in schools and then in the street. That, a puppet booth and children sitting on the ground, is where Magic Land truly began. Brussels was meant to be just a tour; then came Lollipop and RTBF's offer: “I unpacked my bags and I am still here.” A café-théâtre on avenue Brugmann, eight years at the Botanique, then in 1994 a venue on rue d'Hoogvorst in Schaerbeek.

In the late 1980s, the company crossed paths with La Rétine de Plateau, the non-profit run by Eric Vauthier and Michel Culot: the opening of the Forum in Liège in 1989, the launch of the Cinquantenaire Drive-In in 1991. Dominique Kérignard, Odile Serve, Hervé Dubois, Dieudonné Kabongo, John-John Mossoux, Virginie Hocq, Bruce Ellison and many others built this collective house.