Since his emergence from the Flemish avant-garde movement of the 1980s, Ivo van Hove's directorial career has crossed international boundaries, challenging established notions of theatre-making. He has brought radical interpretations of the classics to America and organic acting technique to Europe.
Ivo van Hove Onstage is the first full English language study of one of theatre's most prominent iconoclasts. It presents a comprehensive, multifaceted account of van Hove's extraordinary work, including key productions, design innovations, his revolutionary approach to text and ambience, and his relationships with specific theatres and companies.
Chronology
VAN HOVE, VIRTUOSO
By David Willinger
PART I
INTRODUCTION
- Progressions and Patterns
- When We Say Van Hove We Don’t Mean It
- The Flemish and Dutch Historical Context
- Antecedents
- Antonin Artaud
- Patrice Chéreau
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
PART II
THE DIRECTOR SEEN FROM MULTIPLE ANGLES
A THEATRE OF EXPERIMENTATION AND EXCESS
- Transcending Traditions, Violating Norms
- A Repertory From Left-Field
- Overkill
- Unlikely Casting
- Acting and Emotions: Not the Method or a Method
- The American Alchemy
A POETICS OF PRECARIOUS THEATRICAL SPACE
- Tasteless Containment Chambers
- Chaos in the Walls and Under the Floorboards
- People in Glass Houses
- Hoarders On-Stage
- Where the Audience Becomes the Clutter
- Coming Full Circle to a Magic Circle
- Mix and Match
- The Brave New World
PERSISTENT LEITMOTIFS OF GENDER
- A New Queer Aesthetic
- Sex Acts/Acting Sex
- The Difficult Woman
- Today’s Man
THE CONTINUUM BETWEEN AGIT-PROP AND AESTHETE
LANGUAGE AND ITS DOUBLE
SIGNATURES AND TICS
- The Highest Form of Flattery
AT PRESENT
- More Stately Warhorses
- Safely Subversive
- The Impure
PART III
KEY PRODUCTIONS
- Wild Lords: A Defining Oeuvre de Jeunesse
- Desire Under the Elms: Cows Without Borders
- Splendid’s: Artaud Resplendent
- Faces: Poor Theatre for Suburban Marriages
- A Massacre at Paris: Exercise in Style
- A Tale of Three Hedda Gablers
- True Love: Scabrous and Skittish
- Rocco and His Brothers: Taking the Gloves off For Love
- Cries and Whispers: Unbridled Pain
- Antonioni Project: Formal Intricacy
- Persona: Human Intimacy, Metaphysical Expanse
- Ludwig: Signs of Madness
- Edward II: How the Other Half Lives
INTO THE FUTURE
Endnotes
Bibliography
FROM MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA TO LONG DAY’S
JOURNEY INTO NIGHT: IVO VAN HOVE DIRECTS EUGENE O’NEILL
By Johan Callens
IVO VAN HOVE’S CINEMA ON-STAGE:
RECONSTRUCTING THE CREATIVE PROCESS
By Serge Goriely
LOVE STILL IS LOVE EVEN WHEN IT LACKS HARMONY:
ANTIGONE AND THE ATTEMPT TO HUMANIZE TRAGEDY
By Charlotte Gruber
REALITY OVERTAKES MYTH: IVO VAN HOVE STAGES DER RING
DES NIBELUNGEN
By Francis Maes
KINGS OF WAR OR THE POWER GAME
By Johan Thielemans
APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1: The Roman Tragedies Dossier
"Staging the Twitter War"
"The Politics of Distraction"
APPENDIX 2: Theatre is the Artform of the 21st Century: Interview with Ivo van Hove By Johan Reyniers
Biography
David Willinger is a Professor of Theatre at the City College of New York and the Granduate Center (CUNY), USA.