1st Edition

Ivo van Hove Onstage

Edited By David Willinger Copyright 2018
    358 Pages
    by Routledge

    358 Pages
    by Routledge

    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.