Ivo van Hove is a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 theater director best known as the artistic director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam

Toneelgroep Amsterdam

Toneelgroep Amsterdam is the Netherlands' largest repertory company. Its home base is the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg, a classical 19th century theatre building in the heart of Amsterdam.-History:...

 in The Netherlands as well as for his avant garde experimental theater productions on Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

.

Career

He began his career as a stage director in 1981, working with plays he had written himself (Ziektekiemen, Geruchten). He was artistic manager at AKT, Akt-Vertical and De Tijd, successively. Between 1990 and 2000 he was the director at Het Zuidelijk Toneel. Since 2001, Van Hove has been general director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam (the Amsterdam Theatre Group). He has coordinated productions at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Venice Biennale, the Holland Festival, Theater der Welt in Germany, the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna, as well as working in London, Canada, Lisbon, Paris, Verona, Hannover, Porto, Cairo, Poland and New York. He has directed companies from the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, the Staatstheater in Stuttgart and the New York Theatre Workshop. He produced Thuisfront for Dutch television and his first cinematic film, Amsterdam, came out in 2009. Ivo van Hove directed the musical Rent for Joop van den Ende. At the Vlaamse Opera, he staged a production of Lulu (Alban Berg) and the complete Ring Cycle by Wagner (2006–2008). He put on a production of Janáček’s De Zaak Makropoulos and Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta for the De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam. From 1998 to 2004, Ivo van Hove was festival manager of the Holland Festival, where he presented an annual selection of international theatre, music, opera and dance. Since 1984, Van Hove has worked as part of the artistic management of the Department of Dramatic Art at Hogeschool Antwerpen.

At the Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Van Hove has directed Angels in America by Tony Kushner, the marathon performance of Romeinse Tragedies based on the work of Shakespeare, Opening Night by John Cassavetes, Rocco and his brothers by Luchino Visconti and Teorema based on the work of Pier Paolo Pasolini (in partnership with the Ruhrtriennale), Antonioni-project by Michelangelo Antonioni, Kreten en gefluister (Cries and Whispers) by Ingmar Bergman, La voix humaine (The Human Voice) by Jean Cocteau, Zomertrilogie (Summer Trilogy) by Carlo Goldoni, Kinderen van Zon (Children of the sun) by Gorki for Toneelgroep Amsterdam and NTGent and Nooit van elkaar by Jon Fosse.

His future plans include: Ludwig II based on the work of Visconti for the Muenchener Kammerspiele in Munich and The Russians! Platonv meets Ivanov by Tom Lanoye for Toneelgroep Amsterdam.

Awards
Van Hove has regularly received accolades, including two Obie Awards for the best production of an off-Broadway production in New York (for More Stately Mansions and Hedda Gabler), the East 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 Prijs van de Kritiek in the Netherlands, a prize awarded by theatre critics. In 2008, he also received the Prosceniumprijs, a Dutch theatre prize, together with Jan Versweyveld.

“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

International

2011
Ludwig II by Luchino Visconti with Münchner Kammerspiele

2010
The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman with New York Theatre Workshop

Der Menschenfeind by Molière with Schaubühne Berlin

2008
Kameliendame by Alexandre Dumas fils; coproduction TA / Schauspielhaus Hamburg

2007
The misanthrope by Molière with New York Theatre Workshop

2006
Der Geizige by Molière with Staatstheater Stuttgart

2005
Faces by John Cassavetes for Theater der Welt; co-production with Schauspielhaus Hamburg and Staatstheater Stuttgart

2004
Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen with New York Theatre Workshop

2000
Alice in Bed by Susan Sontag with New York Theatre Workshop (co-production with Zuidelijk Toneel and Holland Festival)

1998
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams with New York Theatre Workshop

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

1993
Die Bakchen (The Bacchae) by Euripides with Schauspielhaus Hamburg

Toneelgroep Amsterdam

2005-2006
Perfect Wedding by Charles Mee
Opening night by John Cassavetes
Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen

2004-2005
Het temmen van de feeks (The Taming of the Shrew) by William Shakespeare
Scènes uit een huwelijk (Scenes From a Marriage) by Ingmar Bergman

2003-2004
De kruistochten (The Norman Conquests) by Alan Ayckbourn (co-production with Holland Festival)
Rouw siert Electra (Mourning Becomes Electra) by Eugene O'Neill

2002-2003
Drie zusters (Three Sisters) by Anton Tchechov
Othello by William Shakespeare
Carmen by Oscar van Woensel after Prosper Mérimée and Bizet

2001-2002
Con Amore by Jef Aerts after L’Incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi

2000-2001
True Love by Charles Mee (co-production with Holland Festival)
The Massacre at Paris by Hafid Bouazza after Christopher Marlowe

Zuidelijk Toneel
1999-2000
Alice in Bed by Susan Sontag (co-production with New York Theatre Workshop and Holland Festival)
De dame met de camelia’s (La Dame aux camélias) by Alexandre Dumas

1998-1999
India Song by Marguerite Duras (co-production with Holland Festival)

1997-1998
Romeo en Julia (studie van een verdrinkend lichaam) (Romeo and Juliet: A study of a drowning body) by Peter Verhelst after Shakespeare (co-production with Holland Festival)

1996-1997
Koppen (Faces) by John Cassavetes (co-production with Holland Festival)
De onbeminden (Les Mal Aimés) by François Mauriac

1995-1996
Caligula by Albert Camus

1994-1995
De tramlijn die Verlangen heet (A Streetcar Named Desire) by Tennessee Williams
Splendid's by Jean Genet

1993-1994
Rijkemanshuis (More Stately Mansions) by Eugene O'Neill (co-production with Holland Festival)
1992-1993
Hamlet by William Shakespeare (co-production with Antwerp European Cultural Capital 1993)
Gered (Saved) by Edward Bond

1991-1992
Het Begeren onder de Olmen (Desire Under the Elms) by Eugene O'Neill
Toch zonde van die hoer (’Tis a Pity She’s a Whore) by John Ford

1990-1991
Ajax/Antigone by Sophocles
Het Zuiden (South) by Julien Green

1988-1989
Rouw siert Electra (Mourning Becomes Electra) by Eugene O'Neill

Theater van het Oosten
1989-1990
Richard II by William Shakespeare

De Tijd
1989-1990
Jakow Bogomolow by Maxim Gorki
Lulu by Frank Wedekind (co-production with Toneelgroep Amsterdam)

1988-1989
Don Carlos by Friedrich von Schiller

1987-1988
In de eenzaamheid van de katoenvelden (Dans la solitude des champs de coton) by Bernard-Marie Koltès
Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Akt/Vertikaal
1986-1987
Bacchanten (The Bacchae) by Euripides

1985-1986
Russische Openbaring (Russian Gambit) by Heiner Müller
ImitatieS (ImitationS) (group project)

1984-1985
India Song by Marguerite Duras
Wonderen der mensheid (Miracles of Humanity) (group project)
Wilde heren (Wild Men) (group project)

Vertikaal
1982-1983
De Lijfknecht (The Servant) by Harold Pinter

Akt
1983-1984
Marokko (Morocco) by Botho Strauss
Agatha by Marguerite Duras

1982-1983
Als in de oorlog (Like in the War) by Sophocles/Gie Laenen (as part of Europalia)

1981-1982
Ziektekiemen (Germs) by Ivo van Hove
Geruchten (Rumours) by Ivo van Hove

Opera
2010
Idomeneo, Re di Creta by Mozart with De Munt Opera, Brussels

2006
Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner with The Flemish Opera

2004
Iolanta by Pjotr Tchaikovsky with Nederlandse Opera

2002
De zaak Macropulos (The Macropulos Case) by Leoš Janáček with Nederlandse Opera

1999
Lulu by Alban Berg (after Wedekind) with The Flemish Opera

Musical
2000
Rent by Jonathan Larson with Joop van den Ende Theater Productions

Television
1997
Thuisfront (Home Front) (NPS) by Peter van Kraaij (co-production with Zuidelijk Toneel)

Prizes

Fourteen nominations for the 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 and Opening Night.

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
Arch Angel for best direction at the Edinburgh Festival, for India Song

1998
Herald Angel at the Edinburgh Festival, for More Stately Mansions
Obie Award for best direction of an off-Broadway production, for More Stately Mansions

1997
Oeuvre Prize from East Flanders

1995
Thalia Prize for oeuvre

1996
Theatre Festival Prize for Caligula

1994
Publieks (Audience) Prize for Rijkemanshuis

1987
Oscar de Gruyter Prize for best direction for Macbeth