The Atlantic: Ivo Van Hove is arguably the most sought-after theater director in the world. In February, his version of West Side Story—with new choreography—will open on Broadway. His adaptation of the film Network was nominated for five Tony Awards last year (winning one). Before that, he directed Gillian Anderson and Lily James in All About Eve, Ben Whishaw and Saoirse Ronan in The Crucible, and Mark Strong in A View From the Bridge.
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State funding and a lack of complete dependence on a capitalist system of audiences and producers allows for more experimentation and originality in the arts. In Europe, it is the cultural norm there that the government is more involved in culture and the funding thereof, so it almost goes without saying that many successful companies and productions are state funded and subsidized. But I guess it comes as more of a surprise in the US, where the general assumption is that the government tends stays away from arts initiatives and the like. But as more productions make the jump across the pond, that line of government funding and the expectation of the role of government in the arts becomes more blurred. The comment in the article that Europeans were “used to seeing the classics treated with irreverence” was amusing and insightful to me. I’ve always admired the National Theatre in London for their fascinating spins on classic theatre pieces, and now I can see the foundation of that.
This article was really interesting to me, as someone who has mainly been exposed to American theatre, and not knowing how things work over in Europe. I actually work quite frequently with a mentor who happens to be the design associate of Jan Versweyveld, and in turn, works often with Ivo. I think the system set up in Amsterdam is so wonderful—the fact that these creatives are supported financially in their work allows for free expression of ideas (without the pressure of getting things absolutely perfect on the first try). If something doesn’t get well received, at least the concept was put out into the world. That is how art should be created, and I think it should be a system put into the educational systems here. Clearly the Americans like the results, since Ivo is so sought after! And the results really are great. I keep hearing things about his stagings and some of the weird, freaky, avant grade (the perfect words to describe it) is absolutely brilliant.
Reading this article brought me so much more insight on how theatre in other countries are made. From my understanding America sucks at giving funding. It is almost impossible for a theatre company to receive any type of grant and you will rarely see shows in New York that are giving grants by the NAE. This seems very different where in eurpoe the Goverment give a lot of money towards the arts. I think we need to invest more into the arts. Its also interesting to see why Ivo is in such high demand and they broke down his art perfectly. He is artisy enough for the younger crowd but does not veer off to much to appease the older generation. He also uses great classics and makes them new. I am excited to see west sire story as I think he will make some realty great changes as he is creating this show new.
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