Ivo van Hove has been director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam / Internationaal Theater Amsterdam from 2001 till 2023.
Ivo van Hove (Belgium, 1958) began his career as a theatre director in 1981 with his own productions (Germs, Rumours). He then went on to be the artistic leader of AKT, Akt-Vertikaal and De Tijd. From 1990 to 2000, he was director of Het Zuidelijk Toneel. From 1998 to 2004, Van Hove managed the Holland Festival. Here he annually presented his selection of international theatre, music, opera and dance. Since 1984, he has been one of the artistic leaders of the Dramatic Arts department of the University College Antwerp. In 2001, Van Hove became director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam.
Productions by Ivo van Hove have been performed at e.g. the Festival d'Avignon, Edinburgh International Festival, the Venice Biennale, the Holland Festival, Theater der Welt and the Wiener Festwochen. He directed the ensembles of La Comédie-Française, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Staatstheater Stuttgart and New York Theatre Workshop. For Joop van den Ende, Van Hove directed the musical Rent. At the Vlaamse Opera, he staged Lulu (Alban Berg) and the entire Ring des Nibelungen by Wagner (2006 - 2008). At the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, he staged Janácek’s The Makropulos Affair and Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. In 2014, he directed the world premiere of the opera Brokeback Mountain at Teatro Real. Van Hove directed A view from the Bridge (2015) and The Crucible (2016) on Broadway and Lazarus, David Bowie’s musical theatre show, in New York. For Dutch television, he made Home Front and in 2009, his first feature film Amsterdam was released. In 2021 his direction of Roman tragedies was broadcasted on Dutch public TV in 10 parts.
At Toneelgroep Amsterdam (the precursor of Internationaal Theater Amsterdam), Van Hove directed e.g. Angels in America by Tony Kushner, The Damned, Age of rage, marathon performances Roman tragedies and Kings of war based on Shakespeare, Opening Night and Husbands by John Cassavetes, Rocco and his brothers and Obsession by Luchino Visconti, Teorema based on Pier Paolo Pasolini (co-production Ruhrtriennale), Antonioni Project by Michelangelo Antonioni, Cries and whispers, Scenes from a marriage, and After the rehearsal / Persona by Ingmar Bergman, La voix humaine by Jean Cocteau, Summer trilogy by Carlo Goldoni, Children of the sun by Maxim Gorky, The miser by Molière, Mourning becomes Electra and A long day’s journey into night by O'Neill, The Russians! by Tom Lanoye based on Anton Chekhov, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, Mary Stuart by Schiller and The hidden force, The things that pass and Small souls by Louis Couperus, A little life by Hanya Yanagihara, Death in Venice after Thomas Mann, two works of Édouard Louis: Who killed my father and Battles and metamorphoses of a woman and My heavenly favorite.
Van Hove’s work has been awarded often: e.g. two Obie Awards for best directing 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), the Archangel Award at the Edinburgh Festival (1999) and the Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2004) in France. In 2007, he received the Prijs van de Kritiek in the Netherlands. In 2008, he received the Prosceniumprijs, a Dutch oeuvre award, together with Jan Versweyveld and in 2012 the Amsterdam Business Oeuvre Award. In 2014, van Hove received an honorary doctorate for general merit from the University of Antwerp and in 2015, two Olivier Awards for A View From the Bridge and the Amsterdam Award for the Arts for proven quality, with Jan Versweyveld. In 2016, Van Hove received two Tony Awards, two Drama League Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and two Grands Prix de la Critique. King Filip of Belgium awarded Van Hove Commander of the Order of the Crown and he received the Flemish Culture Prize for Overall Cultural Merit 2015 from the Flemish Minister of Culture Sven Gatz. In 2019 he was awarded the prestigious Johannes Vermeer Prize. And in 2023 he received the title Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
From 2021 until 2022 the exhibition All About Theatre About Film, which Van Hove made together with Jan Versweyveld, was seen in Eye Amsterdam.
PUBLICATIONS
AWARDS
Selected plays for the Dutch and/or Flamish Theatre Festival: MacBeth, Lulu, Ajax/Antigone, Het Begeren onder de Olmen, Rijkemanshuis, Caligula, Koppen, Romeo and Julia, De Onbeminden, India Song, De dame met de Camelia’s, Mourning becomes Electra, Crusades, Opening Night, Roman Tragedies, Children of the sun, And we'll never be parted, Husbands, After the rehearsal / Persona, Long day's journey into night, The Fountainhead, Kings of war and The things that pass.
2023
Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
2021
Espetáculo de honra Festival de Almada | Who killed my father
2020
Musical Award best director | Lazarus
Nomination Drama League Award Outstanding Revival of a Musical | West Side Story
Nomination Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Musical | West Side Story
Outer Critics Circle special honors Outstanding Revival of a Musical | West Side Story
Outer Critics Circle special honors Outstanding Director of a Musical | West Side Story
Antonyo Award Nomination Best Revival of a Musical | West Side Story
2019
Nomination Tony Award best direction of a play | Network
Johannes Vermeer Prize
VSCD Oeuvre Prize
2018
Nomination Olivier Award Best Production | Network
Nomination Jeff Awards Best Director | A view from the bridge, Goodman Theatre
Stanislavsky Award for outstanding achievement on the world art of directing
2017
Richard B. Fisher Next Wave Award
Molière for Best play | Les Damnés, La Comédie-Française
Molière for Best visual creation | Les Damnés, La Comédie-Française
Nomination Molière for Best Direction | Les Damnés, La Comédie-Française
NR. 2 NRC Culture Top 100
2016
Leading Global Thinker | Foreign Policy
IJ Award 2016
Flemish Culture Prize for Overall Cultural Merit 2015
Commander in the Order of the Crown
NR. 1 NRC Culture Top 100
Tony Award Best Direction of a Play| A View from the Bridge
Tony Award Best Revival of a Play | A View from the Bridge
Nomination Tony Award Best Revival of a Play | The Crucible
Drama League Founders Award for Excellence in Directing
Drama League Award Outstanding Revival of a Play | A View from the Bridge
Nomination Drama League Award Outstanding Revival of a Play | The Crucible
Honorary Citizen of Ham, Belgium
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Play | A View from the Bridge
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Play | A View from the Bridge
Nomination Molière Best Director | Vu du Pont, Théâtre de l'Odéon
Nomination Molière Best Revival | Vu du Pont, Théâtre de l'Odéon
Outer Critics Circle Award Best Director (Lucille Lortel Award) | A View from the Bridge
Nomination Outer Critics Circle Award Best Revival | A View from the Bridge
Nomination Outer Critics Circle Award Best Revival | The Crucible
Nomination Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical | Lazarus, NYTW
Grand Prix de la Critique Best foreign production | Kings of war
Grand Prix de la Critique Best production | Vu du pont
2015
Amsterdam Award for the Arts 2015, with Jan Versweyveld
Olivier Award Best Director | A View from the Bridge, Young Vic and Wyndham's theatre
Olivier Award Best Revival | A View from the Bridge, Young Vic and Wyndham's theatre
Nomination Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Director (Lucille Lortel Award) | Scenes From a Marriage
Critics’ Circle Theatre Award Best Director | A View from the Bridge, Young Vic
2014
Honorary doctorate for general merit, the University of Antwerp
Nomination Helpmann Award 'best direction of a play' | Roman Tragedies
Nomination Evening Standard Theatre Award 'Best Director' | A View from the Bridge, Young Vic
2013
Nomination Amsterdam Award for the Arts 2013 | Toneelgroep Amsterdam / Ivo van Hove
2012
Grand Prix Mira Trailović | Children of the Sun
Amsterdam Business Oeuvre Award
2008
Proscenium Prize, with Jan Versweyveld
2007
Prijs van de Kritiek (prize awarded by Dutch theatre critics)
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
1999
Arch Angel for best direction at the Edinburgh Festival, for India Song
1998
Herald Angel at the Edinburgh Festival, for More Stately Mansions
1998
Obie Award for best direction of an off-Broadway production, for More Stately Mansions
1997
Oeuvre Prize from East Flanders
1996
Theatre Festival Prize for Caligula
1995
Thalia Prize for oeuvre
1994
Publieks (Audience) Prize for Rijkemanshuis
1987
Oscar de Gruyter Prize for best direction for Macbeth
WORK AT ITA / TONEELGROEP AMSTERDAM
2022 - 2023
My heavenly favorite | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
2021 - 2022
Battles and metamorphoses of a woman | Édouard Louis
The damned | Enrico Medioli, Luchino Visconti, Nicola Badalucco
2020 - 2021
Age of rage | Aischylos, Euripides
2019 - 2020
Freud | after Jean-Paul Sartre (coproductie FC Bergman)
Who killed my father | Edouard Louis
2018 - 2019
A little life | Hanya Yanagihara
Death in Venice | after Thomas Mann, Ramsey Nasr (coproduction Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest)
2017 - 2018
Small souls | Louis Couperus
2016 - 2017
The things that pass | Louis Couperus (coproduction Toneelhuis)
Obsession | Lucino Visconti
The diary of one who disappeared | Leoš Janáček (coproduction Muziektheater Transparant)
2015 - 2016
The hidden force | Louis Couperus
the other voice | Ramsey Nasr
2014 - 2015
Kings of war | William Shakespeare
Mary Stuart | Friedrich Schiller (coproduction Toneelhuis)
Song from Far Away | Simon Stephens
Antigone | Sophocles
2013 - 2014
The Fountainhead | Ayn Rand
Long day's journey into night | Eugene O'Neill
2012 - 2013
After the rehearsal | Ingmar Bergman
Persona | Ingmar Bergman
2011 - 2012
The miser | Molière
Husbands | John Cassavetes
2010 - 2011
Children of the sun | Maxim Gorki (coproduction NTGent)
And we'll never be parted | Jon Fosse
the Russians! | after Tsjechov by Tom Lanoye
2009 - 2010
Teorema | Pier Paolo Pasoloni
Summer Trilogy| Carlo Goldoni
2008 - 2009
Antonioni project | Michelangelo Antonioni
La voix humaine | Jean Cocteau
Cries and whispers | Ingmar Bergman
Rocco and his brothers | Luchino Visconti
2007 - 2008
Angels in America | Tony Kushner
Kameliendame | Alexandre Dumas (coproduction Schauspielhaus Hamburg)
2006 - 2007
Roman Tragedies | William Shakespeare
2005 - 2006
Perfect wedding | Charles Mee
Opening night | John Cassavetes (coproduction NTGent)
Hedda Gabler van Henrik Ibsen
2004 - 2005
The taming of the shrew | William Shakespeare
Scènes from a marriage | Ingmar Bergman
2003 - 2004
Crusades| Alan Ayckbourn
Mourning becomes Electra | Eugene O'Neill
2002 - 2003
Three sisters | Anton Tchechov
Othello | William Shakespeare
Carmen | Oscar van Woensel
2001 - 2002
Con Amore | Jef Aerts
2000 - 2001
True Love | Charles Mee
The Massacre at Paris | Hafid Bouazza
1989 - 1990
Lulu | Frank Wedekind (coproduction De Tijd)
WORK OUTSIDE ITA / TONEELGROEP AMSTERDAM
2024 - Jesus Christ Superstar
by Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber | DeLaMar, Amsterdam
2023 - Dead man walking
by Jake Heggie | Metropolitan Opera, New York
2023 - Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny
by Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht | DNO, Amsterdam
2023 - After the rehearsal / Persona
by Ingmar Bergman | Montpellier
2023 - Don Giovanni
by Mozart | Metropolitan Opera, New York
2023 - A little life
by Hanya Yanagihara | Harold Pinter Theatre, Londen
2022 - Ingolstadt
by Marieluise Fliesser | Burgtheater, Vienna
2022 - The human voice
by Jean Cocteau | Harold Pinter Theatre, Londen
2022 - Le Tartuffe ou l'Hypocrite
by Molière | La Comédie-Française, Paris
2020 - The glass menagerie
by Tennessee Williams | Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe, Paris
2020 - West Side Story
by Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim | Broadway, New York
2019 - Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny
by Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht | DNO, Amsterdam
2019 - Don Giovanni
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | L’Opéra national de Paris
2019 - Électre / Oreste
by Euripides | La Comédie-Française, Paris
2019 - All about Eve
by Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Noël Coward Theatre, London
2018 - Network
by Lee Hall | Broadway, New York
2018 - Boris Godounov
by Modeste Moussorgski | Opéra Bastille, Paris
2017 - Network
by Lee Hall | National Theatre, London
2017 - Salome
by Richard Strauss | De Nationale Opera
2016 - Hedda Gabler
by Henrik Ibsen | National Theatre, London
2016 - The Damned
by Luchino Visconti | La Comédie-Française, Paris
2016 - The Crucible
by Arthur Miller | Broadway, New York
2016 - La Clemenza di Tito
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Teatr Wielki, Polish National Opera
2015 - Lazarus
by Enda Walsh | New York Theatre Workshop
2015 - A view from the bridge
by Arthur Miller | Lyceum Theatre, New York
2015 - Vu du pont
by Arthur Miller | L'Odéon, Paris
2015 - A view from the bridge
by Arthur Miller | Wyndham's Theatre, London
2014 - Scenes from a Marriage
by Ingmar Bergman | New York Theatre Workshop
2014 - A view from the bridge
by Arthur Miller | Young Vic, London
2014 - Brokeback Mountain
libretto by Annie Proulx, music by Charles Wuorinen | Teatro Real
2013 - La Clemenza di Tito
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | De Munt Opera, Brussels
2013 - Seltsames Intermezzo
by Eugene O'Neill | Münchner Kammerspiele
2013 - Mazeppa
by Pjotr I. Tschaikowski | Komische Oper Berlin
2012 - Macbeth
by Giuseppe Verdi | L'Opéra de Lyon
2012 - Der Schatzgräber
by Franz Schreker | De Nederlandse Opera
2011 - Edward II
by Christopher Marlowe | Schaubühne Berlin
2011 - Ludwig II
by Luchino Visconti | Münchner Kammerspiele
2010 - Der Menschenfeind
by Molière | Schaubühne Berlin
2010 - The Little Foxes
by Lillian Hellman | New York Theatre Workshop
2010 - Idomeneo, Re di Creta
by Mozart | De Munt Opera, Brussels
2008 - Kameliendame
by Alexandre Dumas fils | coproduction TA with Schauspielhaus Hamburg
2008 - Der Ring des Nibelungen, Götterdammerung
by Richard Wagner | The Flemish Opera
2007 - Der Ring des Nibelungen, Siegfried
by Richard Wagner | The Flemish Opera
2007 - The misanthrope
by Molière | New York Theatre Workshop
2007 - Der Ring des Nibelungen, die Walküre
by Richard Wagner | The Flemish Opera
2006 - Der Geizige (The Miser)
by Molière | Schauspielhaus Hamburg
2006 - Der Ring des Nibelungen, das Rheingold
by Richard Wagner | The Flemish Opera
2005 - Faces
by John Cassavetes | Theater der Welt, coproduction with Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Staatstheater Stuttgart
2004 - Hedda Gabler
by Henrik Ibsen | New York Theatre Workshop
2004 - Iolanta
by Pjotr Tchaikovsky | De Nederlandse Opera
2002 - De zaak Macropulos (The Macropulos Case)
by Leos Janácek | De Nederlandse Opera
2000 - Alice in Bed
by Susan Sontag | New York Theatre Workshop, coproduction Zuidelijk Toneel/Holland Festival
2000 - Rent
by Jonathan Larson | Joop van den Ende Theater Productions
1999 - Lulu
by Alban Berg (after Wedekind) | The Flemish Opera
1999-2000 - La Dame aux Camélias (Kamliendame)
by Alexandre Dumas | Zuidelijk Toneel
1998-1999 - India Song
by Marguerite Duras | Zuidelijk Toneel, coproduction with Holland Festival
1998 - A Streetcar Named Desire
by Tennessee Williams | New York Theatre Workshop
1997-1998 Romeo and Juliet: A study of a drowning body
by Peter Verhelst after Shakespeare | Zuidelijk Toneel, coproduction with Holland Festival
1996-1997 - Faces (Koppen)
by John Cassavetes | Zuidelijk Toneel, coproduction with Holland Festival
1996-1997 - Les Mal Aimés
by François Mauriac | Zuidelijk Toneel
1995-1996 - Caligula
by Albert Camus | Zuidelijk Toneel
1996 - More Stately Mansions
by Eugene O’Neill | New York Theatre Workshop
1995 - Gier unter Ulmen (Desire under the Elms)
by Eugene O’Neill | Staatstheater Stuttgart
1994-1995 - A Streetcar Named Desire (Tramlijn begeerte)
by Tennessee Williams | Zuidelijk Toneel
1994-1995 - Splendid's
by Jean Genet | Zuidelijk Toneel
1993-1994 - More Stately Mansions (Rijkemanshuis)
by Eugene O'Neill | Zuidelijk Toneel, coproduction Holland Festival
1993 - Die Bakchen (The Bacchae)
by Euripides | Schauspielhaus Hamburg
1992-1993 - Hamlet
by William Shakespeare | Zuidelijk Toneel, coproduction Antwerp European Cultural Capital 1993
1992-1993 - Saved (Gered)
by Edward Bond | Zuidelijk Toneel
1991-1992 - Desire under the Elms (Begeerte onder de olmen)
by Eugene O'Neill | Zuidelijk Toneel
1991-1992 - It's a pity she’s a whore
by John Ford | Zuidelijk Toneel
1990-1991 - Ajax/Antigone
by Sophocles | Zuidelijk Toneel
1990-1991 - South
by Julien Green | Zuidelijk Toneel
1989-1990 - Richard II
by William Shakespeare | Theater van het Oosten
1989-1990 - Jakow Bogomolow
by Maxim Gorky | De Tijd
1989-1990 - Lulu
by Frank Wedekind | De Tijd, coproduction Toneelgroep Amsterdam
1988-1989 - Mourning Becomes Electra
by Eugene O'Neill | Zuidelijk Toneel
1988-1989 - Don Carlos
by Friedrich von Schiller | De Tijd
1987-1988 - Dans la solitude des champs de coton
by Bernard-Marie Koltès | De Tijd
1987-1988 - Macbeth
by William Shakespeare | De Tijd
1986-1987 - The Bacchae
by Euripides | akt/vertikaal
1985-1986 - Russian Gambit
by Heiner Müller | akt/vertikaal
1985-1986 - ImitationS
akt/vertikaal (group project)
1984-1985 - India Song
by Marguerite Duras | akt/vertikaal
1984-1985 - Miracles of Humanity
akt/vertikaal (group project)
1984-1985 - Wild Men
akt/vertikaal (group project)
1983-1984 - Morocco
by Botho Strauss | Akt
1983-1984 - Agatha
by Marguerite Duras | Akt
1982-1983 - The Servant
by Harold Pinter | Vertikaal
1982-1983 - Like in the War (Als in de oorlog)
by Sophocles/Gie Laenen (as part of Europalia) | Akt
1981-1982 - Germs (Ziektekiemen)
by Ivo van Hove | Akt
1981-1982 - Rumours (Geruchten)
by Ivo van Hove | Akt
FILM AND TELEVISION
2021 - Roman Tragedies
by William Shakespeare | produced by VPRO
2010 - Amsterdam
by Jeroen Planting | produced by Martin Lagestee and Marijke van der Molen
1997 - Thuisfront (Home Front), NPS
by Peter van Kraaij | coproduction Zuidelijk Toneel