Great video! I live and work as a dramaturg in theatre in Amsterdam and you nail the appeal of Ivo van Hove! He is truly considered quite a conservative director here, with many considering his work to be either a hit or a miss. His Kings of War, Angels in America, and Roman Tragedies are hailed as being among the very best theatre can be in the Netherlands, while his new works like Gevechten en Metamorfosen van een Vrouw leave much to be desired. His work is, however, always at a very high quality and is always surprising. What often goes unsaid with van Hove is that he is also quite skilled at programming exciting theatre for his ensemble. Every year he and his theater curate the Brandhaarden Festival which has always impressed me (this year bringing Milo Rau, Thomas Ostermeier, Eline Arbo, and Kjersti Horn in house). He is also responsible for bringing works from artists such as Robert Icke, Suzanne Kennedy, Simon Stone, and others to Amsterdam. The one thing I will say is that his theater is no longer called Toneelgroep Amsterdam. About four years ago, the ensemble became Internationaal Theater Amsterdam... but just a tiny clarification! :)
Thank you so much for your kind comment! It's great to hear about his other strengths, especially in programming. I've seen shows directed by Ostermeier and Suzanne Kennedy, and I'd love to see work like the others you mentioned, so the Brandhaarden festival sounds like the ideal destination. I learned of the ITA Ensemble name change just after publishing the video, just barely too late. I wish I had known at the time as Internationaal Theater Amsterdam is a lot easy for a non-dutch speaker like me to pronounce than Toneelgroep :D.
Excellent video! He is one of my favorite directors, no matter how cliche of a name he has become. Out of 500+ shows I’ve seen, View From The Bridge is in the top 10. And there’s nothing on stage but the actors, hardly in costume. It’s a magnificent energy only he can build. (Also, at least in previews, it rained for a longggg time in the middle of West Side Story. Was so fun, almost exhausting to watch, wondering when it would end.)
Thanks so much! I am sure View from the Bridge was amazing to watch. Also, yeah, when I saw West Side Story I was struck by how long it rained too. I thought of it at first as more of a aesthetic choice but in hindsight I can see how it affected the performances too.
Thank you for your VERY enlightening overview of Ivo Van Hove's work. I was only familiar with his work through his collaboration with David Bowie and playwright Enda Walsh on Bowie's last piece of work, the musical drama, 'Lazarus', which I've been lucky to see twice, though only online sadly through official streams of the 2016 show. Your video explains some of the artistic choices Ivo brought to that piece and I hope to use your video as a prompt to see other recordings of his work and hopefully live productions. Good work. On another note, Bowie was interested in 1995 producing work with Robert Wilson, whose video by you I have also enjoyed. What THAT would have been we can only imagine!
Great vid! I absolutely loved his productions of The Crucible and A View From The Bridge. I also don't get how a lot of NY theatre people shit on him while at the same time praise directors with half baked ideas like John Doyle and the guy who directed that recent revival of Oklahoma. I'm also working my way through the Van Hove productions that were streamed last year. IDK if I liked his version of West Side Story. I gave up halfway through. I have terrible vertigo and the camerawork (which usually works for me) on the screen at the back of the stage made me so dizzy I almost threw up lol.
I was just thinking about his West Side Story (which I saw twice), and I've always wondered whether it would have been a lot better at a smaller theater, and it had an off-Broadway run on the show. That production, I believe, had a lot more resonance with today's theatergoers, who prefer off-Broadway productions. I believe a more tearful and violent rendition of West Side Story would have hit much harder if it had been more accessible to, well, America's young.
It's surprising that in the video and comments, there's no mention of his lengthy power abuse history in all the theatres and festivals he's worked in. It's as if nobody is aware of the long-standing legal battles he's involved in and the allegations of power abuse. It's a challenging environment for anyone. I raise this for your consideration. Dear Davenport, I believe that your research is incomplete. It seems that you have not considered all the relevant factors. We are all responsible for creating these situations. By remaining silent, you are contributing to the problem.
![Crucible Cast Party [feat. Lin-Manuel Miranda] - SNL](/img/n.gif)
Great video! I live and work as a dramaturg in theatre in Amsterdam and you nail the appeal of Ivo van Hove! He is truly considered quite a conservative director here, with many considering his work to be either a hit or a miss. His Kings of War, Angels in America, and Roman Tragedies are hailed as being among the very best theatre can be in the Netherlands, while his new works like Gevechten en Metamorfosen van een Vrouw leave much to be desired. His work is, however, always at a very high quality and is always surprising. What often goes unsaid with van Hove is that he is also quite skilled at programming exciting theatre for his ensemble. Every year he and his theater curate the Brandhaarden Festival which has always impressed me (this year bringing Milo Rau, Thomas Ostermeier, Eline Arbo, and Kjersti Horn in house). He is also responsible for bringing works from artists such as Robert Icke, Suzanne Kennedy, Simon Stone, and others to Amsterdam. The one thing I will say is that his theater is no longer called Toneelgroep Amsterdam. About four years ago, the ensemble became Internationaal Theater Amsterdam... but just a tiny clarification! :)
Thank you so much for your kind comment! It's great to hear about his other strengths, especially in programming. I've seen shows directed by Ostermeier and Suzanne Kennedy, and I'd love to see work like the others you mentioned, so the Brandhaarden festival sounds like the ideal destination. I learned of the ITA Ensemble name change just after publishing the video, just barely too late. I wish I had known at the time as Internationaal Theater Amsterdam is a lot easy for a non-dutch speaker like me to pronounce than Toneelgroep :D.
Excellent video! He is one of my favorite directors, no matter how cliche of a name he has become. Out of 500+ shows I’ve seen, View From The Bridge is in the top 10. And there’s nothing on stage but the actors, hardly in costume. It’s a magnificent energy only he can build.
(Also, at least in previews, it rained for a longggg time in the middle of West Side Story. Was so fun, almost exhausting to watch, wondering when it would end.)
Thanks so much! I am sure View from the Bridge was amazing to watch. Also, yeah, when I saw West Side Story I was struck by how long it rained too. I thought of it at first as more of a aesthetic choice but in hindsight I can see how it affected the performances too.
Your videos are INCREDIBLE
Thank you for your VERY enlightening overview of Ivo Van Hove's work. I was only familiar with his work through his collaboration with David Bowie and playwright Enda Walsh on Bowie's last piece of work, the musical drama, 'Lazarus', which I've been lucky to see twice, though only online sadly through official streams of the 2016 show. Your video explains some of the artistic choices Ivo brought to that piece and I hope to use your video as a prompt to see other recordings of his work and hopefully live productions. Good work. On another note, Bowie was interested in 1995 producing work with Robert Wilson, whose video by you I have also enjoyed. What THAT would have been we can only imagine!
That was great and informative. Thank you!
Loved the video!
wow cool beat at the end there. very cool
Please do more videos, there aren’t enough theatre youtubers
I will be making more theatre videos, that's a promise.
Great video! What’s the outdo song?
the outro song is a beat made by my friend Noah with Jay-Z vocals saying 'HOVA' over it. I thought the pun was funny.
I know it’s a long shot but a Simon Stone video would be incredible
Dude this is cool. I'm invested.
Great vid! I absolutely loved his productions of The Crucible and A View From The Bridge. I also don't get how a lot of NY theatre people shit on him while at the same time praise directors with half baked ideas like John Doyle and the guy who directed that recent revival of Oklahoma. I'm also working my way through the Van Hove productions that were streamed last year. IDK if I liked his version of West Side Story. I gave up halfway through. I have terrible vertigo and the camerawork (which usually works for me) on the screen at the back of the stage made me so dizzy I almost threw up lol.
I was just thinking about his West Side Story (which I saw twice), and I've always wondered whether it would have been a lot better at a smaller theater, and it had an off-Broadway run on the show. That production, I believe, had a lot more resonance with today's theatergoers, who prefer off-Broadway productions. I believe a more tearful and violent rendition of West Side Story would have hit much harder if it had been more accessible to, well, America's young.
i'm waiting the video on Romeo Castellucci :)
You know, I was just thinking about that :D
It's surprising that in the video and comments, there's no mention of his lengthy power abuse history in all the theatres and festivals he's worked in. It's as if nobody is aware of the long-standing legal battles he's involved in and the allegations of power abuse. It's a challenging environment for anyone. I raise this for your consideration. Dear Davenport,
I believe that your research is incomplete. It seems that you have not considered all the relevant factors. We are all responsible for creating these situations. By remaining silent, you are contributing to the problem.
Yeah I definitely had no idea about any of it when I made this video, glad you've commented about it now though so others can see.
the dogma (95) stage director