Tag Archives: Toneelgroep Amsterdam

After the Rehearsal/Persona

Barbican Theatre, London (***)

© Jan Versweyveld, Marieke Heebink, Gijs Scholten van Aschat and Gaite Jansen, locked in destructive embraces...in Persona

© Jan Versweyveld, Marieke Heebink, Gijs Scholten van Aschat and Gaite Jansen, locked in destructive embraces…in Persona

Having excavated Visconti (Ossessione), Ivo van Hove has now moved on to Ingmar Bergman. Much as I admire van Hove – and I do – I am a little perplexed as to why he’s involved himself quite so much in transferring the inscrutable into the literal. Continue reading

Obsession

Barbican Theatre, London (****)

© Jan Versweyveld, Halina Reijn (Hanna), Jude Law (Gino)

© Jan Versweyveld, Halina Reijn (Hanna), Jude Law (Gino)

Ivo van Hove is simply everywhere at present, the wunderkind of international theatre and opera. It’s understandable why he is so much in demand. He has a way of envisioning that is either truly spectacular or passionately intimate, as was the case with his award-winning production of A View from the Bridge for the Young Vic. Continue reading