Theatre director Ivo van Hove has held central positions in Dutch-Belgian cultural life, first as the head of Het Zuidelijk Toneel in Eindhoven from 1990 to 2000 and from 2001 as general director of the Toneelgroep Amsterdam. This is the country's prime theatre company and the official municipal theatre company of Amsterdam. With an annual average of five new plays and over 350 performances, the company plays to audiences of 100.000 each year. Toneelgroep Amsterdam has been invited by international festivals such as RuhrTriennale, Wiener Festwochen, the Edinburgh Festival and Festival d'Avignon, and performs in The United States, Russia and Australia.
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Van Hove’s international focus explains why well-known directors such as Christoph Marthaler, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Johan Simons and Thomas Ostermeier have joined the troupe as guest directors.
Along with his frequent guest directing at the New York Theatre Workshop, Van Hove has directed companies from the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, the Schaubuehne in Berlin and the Münchner Kammerspiele. He also staged opera at the Flemish Opera ( Alban Berg’s Lulu and the complete Ring Cycle by Wagner). At La Monnaie in Brussels he directed Idomeneo by Mozart and in Amsterdam Janaceck’ Macropulous Case. One can track back his world-class reputation to his leadership of the annual Holland Festival, at which he programmed international theatre, music, opera and dance from 1997 to 2004.
Awarded repertoire of the Toneelgroep Amsterdam includes Shakespeare's Roman Tragedies and The Taming of the Shrew, Tony Kushner's Angels in America, Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage and John Cassavetes' Husbands and Opening Night. Van Hove has received many accolades, including two Obie Awards for off-Broadway productions in New York (for More Stately Mansions and Hedda Gabler), the Flanders Oeuvre Prize (1995), the Theatre Festival Prize (1996) and the Archangel Award at the Edinburgh Festival (1999). He was made a knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France in 2004. In 2007 he received the prize awarded by Dutch theatre critics. In 2008, he also received the Prosceniumprijs, the Dutch oeuvre prize, together with Jan Versweyveld, his stage designer for many years and in 2012 the Amsterdam Business Oeuvre Award.
During the last years Van Hove has directed Rocco and his Brothers by Luchino Visconti and Teorema based on the work of Pier Paolo Pasolini (both in partnership with the Ruhrtriennale), Antonioni Project by Michelangelo Antonioni, Cries and Whispers by Ingmar Bergman, The Human Voice by Jean Cocteau, Summer Trilogy by Carlo Goldoni, Children of the Sun by Maxim Gorki, And We'll Never Be Parted by Jon Fosse, The Miser by Molière and The Russians! by Tom Lanoye, based on Tsjechow at the Toneelgroep Amsterdam.
The repertoire of Van Hove is characterized by its great diversity. He chooses both contemporary and classic texts. In recent years he discovered the power of making adaptations of screenplays. The fact that he has obtained first rights to adapt the film scripts of John Cassavetes and Michelangelo Antonioni is an important recognition of his craftsmanship and talent.
Van Hove re-examines repertoire through the prism of our own time and by doing so became a specialist in dismantling theatre classics. He can never be accused of slavish reproduction. Rather he uses the structure of the text in order to either choose extreme sceneries - in which different media play an important role -, or to make actors dare to take extraordinary liberties, in which he strives for a naked-soul acting. Van Hove's 2007 bare-staged Angels in America 'was the most literal version of anti-space I've seen in the conventional theatre,' says the author Tony Kushner. 'It threw the entire event on the actors and their performances. There was no attempt to create stage illusion of any sort. The only departure from the play was that the Angel was played by a male actor. You learn immensely new things from whatever is formalistically unfamiliar in his productions.'
Van Hove is fascinated by human behavior and relationships in the context of great social upheaval. In fact you can say that he transforms every play into a laboratory of human behavior. While choosing his repertoire he looks for arenas chock-full of conflicts and strategies, and he loves characters that live their obsession to the end. He focuses on their wounds and scars: he wants to hit where it hurts. Van Hove is an intuitive and accurate mathematician, researching the everlasting balancing act between our basest instincts and our more superficial manners and attitudes.
The scenery of Jan Versweyveld offers Van Hove the space needed for exploring the interior landscapes of the characters and needed for -what you may call- his a-moral approach. Van Hove doesn’t judge his characters and presents their good and bad qualities with the same amount of attention; in their full potency. At the same time the scenery articulates a vision on our contemporary culture. We live in an individualistic, self- absorbed and liquid society. Van Hove and Versweyveld show the mechanisms of this society but also make clear that we can’t live in isolation. A different notion of collectivity has to be found and theatre is the ultimate place to experiment with this, since according to Van Hove, it is both a place to celebrate the irrational and a place to ask questions. Without fears and without restraint.
'Ivo van Hove's work has been groundbreaking in opening up audiences' understanding of classic texts and films. His work is unique, raw, shocking, surprising, hilarious – everything you want theatre to be – and he doesn't shy away from the ugly or the profane. In a word, stunning, with a capital ‘S’.' Cate Blanchett
AWARDS
Selected plays for the Dutch and/or Flamish Theatre Festival: MacBeth, Lulu, Ajax/Antigone, Het Begeren onder de Olmen, Rijkemanshuis, Caligula, Koppen, Romeo en Julia, De Onbeminden, India Song, De dame met de Camelia’s, Rouw siert Electra, Kruistochten, Opening Night, Romeinse tragedies, Kinderen van de zon, Nooit van elkaar en Husbands.
2012
Grand Prix Mira Trailović | Children of the Sun
Amsterdam Business Oeuvre Award
2008
Proscenium Prize, with Jan Versweyveld
2007
Prijs van de Kritiek (prize awarded by Dutch theatre critics)
2005
Obie Award best direction, best actor, best actress, best set design, for Hedda Gabler
2004
Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French embassy for his valuable contribution to the development of art and culture in an international context
1999
Johan Fleerackers Prize for collaboration between Dutch and Flemish theatre
1999
Arch Angel for best direction at the Edinburgh Festival, for India Song
1998
Herald Angel at the Edinburgh Festival, for More Stately Mansions
1998
Obie Award for best direction of an off-Broadway production, for More Stately Mansions
1997
Oeuvre Prize from East Flanders
1996
Theatre Festival Prize for Caligula
1995
Thalia Prize for oeuvre
1994
Publieks (Audience) Prize for Rijkemanshuis
1987
Oscar de Gruyter Prize for best direction for Macbeth
WORK OUTSIDE TONEELGROEP AMSTERDAM
2013 - Seltsames Intermezzo
by Eugene O'Neill with Münchner Kammerspiele
2013 - Mazeppa
by Pjotr I. Tschaikowski with Komische Oper Berlin
2012 - Macbeth
by Giuseppe Verdi with L'Opéra de Lyon
2012 - Der Schatzgräber
by Franz Schreker with De Nederlandse Opera
2011 - Edward II
by Christopher Marlowe with Schaubühne Berlin
2011 - Ludwig II
by Luchino Visconti with Münchner Kammerspiele
2010 - Der Menschenfeind
by Molière with Schaubühne Berlin
2010 - The Little Foxes
by Lillian Hellman with New York Theatre Workshop
2010 - Idomeneo, Re di Creta
by Mozart with De Munt Opera, Brussels
2008 - Kameliendame
by Alexandre Dumas fils, coproduction TA with Schauspielhaus Hamburg
2008 - Der Ring des Nibelungen, Götterdammerung
by Richard Wagner with The Flemish Opera
2007 - Der Ring des Nibelungen, Siegfried
by Richard Wagner with The Flemish Opera
2007 - The misanthrope
by Molière with New York Theatre Workshop
2007 - Der Ring des Nibelungen, die Walküre
by Richard Wagner with The Flemish Opera
2006 - Der Geizige (The Miser)
by Molière with Staatstheater Stuttgart
2006 - Der Ring des Nibelungen, das Rheingold
by Richard Wagner with The Flemish Opera
2005 - Faces
by John Cassavetes for Theater der Welt, coproduction with Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Staatstheater Stuttgart
2004 - Hedda Gabler
by Henrik Ibsen with New York Theatre Workshop
2004 - Iolanta
by Pjotr Tchaikovsky with De Nederlandse Opera
2002 - De zaak Macropulos (The Macropulos Case)
by Leos Janácek with Nederlandse Opera
2000 - Alice in Bed
by Susan Sontag with New York Theatre Workshop, coproduction with Zuidelijk Toneel/Holland Festival
2000 - Rent
by Jonathan Larson with Joop van den Ende Theater Productions
1999 - Lulu
by Alban Berg (after Wedekind) with The Flemish Opera
1999-2000 - La Dame aux Camélias (Kamliendame)
by Alexandre Dumas with Zuidelijk Toneel
1998-1999 - India Song
by Marguerite Duras with Zuidelijk Toneel, coproduction with Holland Festival
1998 - A Streetcar Named Desire
by Tennessee Williams with New York Theatre Workshop
1997-1998 Romeo and Juliet: A study of a drowning body
by Peter Verhelst after Shakespeare with Zuidelijk Toneel, coproduction with Holland Festival
1996-1997 - Faces (Koppen)
by John Cassavetes with Zuidelijk Toneel, coproduction with Holland Festival
1996-1997 - Les Mal Aimés
by François Mauriac with Zuidelijk Toneel
1995-1996 - Caligula
by Albert Camus with Zuidelijk Toneel
1996 - More Stately Mansions
by Eugene O’Neill with New York Theatre Workshop
1995 - Gier unter Ulmen (Desire under the Elms)
by Eugene O’Neill with Staatstheater Stuttgart
1994-1995 - A Streetcar Named Desire (Tramlijn begeerte)
by Tennessee Williams with Zuidelijk Toneel
1994-1995 - Splendid's
by Jean Genet with Zuidelijk Toneel
1993-1994 - More Stately Mansions (Rijkemanshuis)
by Eugene O'Neill with Zuidelijk Toneel, coproduction with Holland Festival
1993 - Die Bakchen (The Bacchae)
by Euripides with Schauspielhaus Hamburg
1992-1993 - Hamlet
by William Shakespeare with Zuidelijk Toneel, coproduction with Antwerp European Cultural Capital 1993
1992-1993 - Saved (Gered)
by Edward Bond with Zuidelijk Toneel
1991-1992 - Desire under the Elms (Begeerte onder de olmen)
by Eugene O'Neill with Zuidelijk Toneel
1991-1992 - It's a pity she’s a whore
by John Ford with Zuidelijk Toneel
1990-1991 - Ajax/Antigone
by Sophocles with Zuidelijk Toneel
1990-1991 - South
by Julien Green with Zuidelijk Toneel
1989-1990 - Richard II
by William Shakespeare with Theater van het Oosten
1989-1990 - Jakow Bogomolow
by Maxim Gorky with De Tijd
1989-1990 - Lulu
by Frank Wedekind with De Tijd, coproduction Toneelgroep Amsterdam
1988-1989 - Mourning Becomes Electra
by Eugene O'Neill with Zuidelijk Toneel
1988-1989 - Don Carlos
by Friedrich von Schiller with De Tijd
1987-1988 - Dans la solitude des champs de coton
by Bernard-Marie Koltès with De Tijd
1987-1988 - Macbeth
by William Shakespeare with De Tijd
1986-1987 - The Bacchae
by Euripides with akt/vertikaal
1985-1986 - Russian Gambit
by Heiner Müller with akt/vertikaal
1985-1986 - ImitationS
with akt/vertikaal (group project)
1984-1985 - India Song
by Marguerite Duras with akt/vertikaal
1984-1985 - Miracles of Humanity
with akt/vertikaal (group project)
1984-1985 - Wild Men
with akt/vertikaal (group project)
1983-1984 - Morocco
by Botho Strauss with Akt
1983-1984 - Agatha
by Marguerite Duras with Akt
1982-1983 - The Servant
by Harold Pinter with Vertikaal
1982-1983 - Like in the War (Als in de oorlog)
by Sophocles/Gie Laenen (as part of Europalia) with Akt
1981-1982 - Germs (Ziektekiemen)
by Ivo van Hove with Akt
1981-1982 - Rumours (Geruchten)
by Ivo van Hove with Akt
FILM AMD TELEVISION
2010 - Amsterdam
by Jeroen Planting, produced by Martin Lagestee and Marijke van der Molen
1997 - Thuisfront (Home Front), NPS
by Peter van Kraaij, coproduction with Zuidelijk Toneel