Amsterdam theatre duo doubly nominated for UK awards

Will Ivo and Jan join this impressive list?

Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Joan Littlewood, John Gielgud, Alec Guinness, Peggy Ashcroft, Harold Pinter, Peter Hall, Judi Dench, Alan Bennett, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Alan Ayckbourn, Maggie Smith, Gillian Lynne and Michael Frayn.

All big names of British theatre. International celebrities, all with a Olivier awarded, say the British stage oscar. Or the Dutch Toneel-Golden-family-builder-and-a-pair-commedia-dell-arte-figures.

On 12 April next, those thoroughly British greats might be joined by two Flemish names: the Amsterdam-based theatre couple Ivo van Hove (director) and Jan Versweyveld (scenographer). They were nominated for a performance Van Hove and Versweyveld made of A View from the Bridge, an Arthur Miller play about tensions in an Italian immigrant family in Brooklyn.

Recognition at last for Versweyveld?[Tweet "The awards can hardly escape the duo: both van Hove and Versweyveld..."] The awards can hardly escape the duo: both van Hove and Versweyveldwere nominated in two categories each. Van Hove for best directing and best reprise (the play previously played in a small theatre) and Versweyveld for best set design and best lighting design. In addition, the two lead actors and the sound designer were nominated.

[Tweet "Van Hove's international triumphal march reaches new high with these nominations"] Van Hove's international triumphal march reaches a new high with these nominations. Earlier, tout hip New York fell for the Fleming, who as artistic director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam has had the Netherlands at its feet for years. In Belgium, Germany and Austria, he is also on a lonely footing, while the company travels the world with plays directed by van Hove.

It is extra nice that now Versweyveld is also in danger of falling thickly into the prizes. Van Hove's regular partner is of such enormous influence on the director's work that it is very often impossible to determine where the designer's work ends and the director's begins.

That is a prerequisite for beautiful theatre.