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fountainhead

ITA is a hopeless name for an art house. But there is no alternative for Amsterdam's city theatre

by Wijbrand Schaap
1 February 201816 May 2018
3 min read
ACTUAL, PODIUM ART, THEATER

Toneelgroep Amsterdam and Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam will continue together as 'Internationa(a)l Theater Amsterdam' (ITA). Not to be confused with the just-removed Internationaal Danstheater Amsterdam. I find the name 'ITA' rather chilly. Maybe as cold as Toneelgroep, but at least that still contained the word 'group'. That has something cosy about it. ITA is something like ING. Great ambition and no roots. For a moment...

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'Had Couperus been born 10 years later, he wouldn't have needed all that packaging'

by Hannah Roelofs
10 October 201730 March 2022
6 min read
For members only, PODIUM ART, THEATER

Director Ivo van Hove chose the 'books of little souls' cycle as the conclusion of the Couperus triptych at Toneelgroep Amsterdam. He previously directed 'Silent Power' (2015) and 'The things that pass' (2016). Dramaturg Koen Tachelet adapted Couperus' Magnum Opus for the theatre. The books 'The Little Souls', 'Late Life', 'Twilight of Souls' and 'Sacred Knowing' together form the cycle 'The Books of...

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passions humaines, guy cassiers, foto Kurt van der Elst

Hidden lusts of Belgians lead to great art on #HF15

by Wijbrand Schaap
16 June 201530 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, Holland Festival, SPECIALS, THEATER

2014 was the year of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, award-winning stage adaptation by Ivo van Hove. This year, that performance has been outstripped by 'Passions Humaines', written by Erwin Mortier, magisterially designed by Guy Cassiers. Again at the Holland Festival, confirming its place as a stage for the great debate on art. Two plays in which architecture, artistry and...

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The 10 theatre performances you actually wanted to see in 2014, even if you had to leave Amsterdam for half of them

by Henri Drost
27 December 201411 July 2016
3 min read
ACTUAL, MUSIC, OPERA, THEATER

It's raining annual lists and we're merrily joining in. As subjective as anyone, after all, no one sees everything, and opinions on taste can always differ. Of course, also in this list many performances in or from the Randstad, but half of them were not yet shown there. And all genres mixed together. As long as it is theatre. With the only limitation: no repeats, apologies Ring and Lohengrin (DNO), St John Passion (NRO). And no dance, because for that our partner dance audience.

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Sallie Harmsen en Joris Smit in Tasso (foto Kurt van der Elst)

Drama about art: to do or not to do? Ivo van Hove and Sallie Harmsen think so.

by Frans van Hilten
28 October 201429 March 2022
9 min read
For members only, THEATER

The National Theatre will premiere Blueprint for an Even Better Life on 8 November 2014, which addresses, among other things, the position of artists in society. A theme that also featured in their recent Tasso, and in Toneelgroep Amsterdam's successful The Fountainhead. Is the subject of art back on the theatre agenda due to the changed cultural politics of the past...

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Matthias Mooij (1976-2014): a career that should have been there.

by Wijbrand Schaap
25 July 201429 March 2022
2 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, OPERA, THEATER

He could have become an important director, but was at the wrong time, in the wrong place. In the end, his illness fatally bothered Matthias Mooij. Yesterday, this still young theatre-maker died of lung cancer, more than a year and a half after the premiere of his first large-venue production: Mogadishu. With that performance, of a play written by the English writer Vivienne Franzmann, Mooij put a new tone in the theatre: no longer did he fall back on theatre-familiar, mainly German and Austrian repertoire, opting instead for British authors.

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Aufführung der Komposition " Delusion of the fury " von Harry Partch in der Musiktheater Inszenierung von Heiner Goebbels mit dem Ensemble musikFabrik in der Jahrhunderthalle Bochum im Rahmen der Ruhrtriennale 2012-14 am Mittwoch, 21.08.2013

Seeing music (and not hearing it?)

by one of our members
4 July 201430 March 2022
11 min read
For members only, Holland Festival, MUSIC, SPECIALS

Because of my fascination with the complex relationship between listening and watching, I decided to visit three performances at the recent Holland Festival and experience what happened when I tried to pay equal attention to ears and eyes. The first was "Delusion of the Fury" (1966) by American composer Harry Partch, the second a concert performance of Philip Glass's opera "The CIVIL warS" (1983), the third a performance of Franz Schubert's "Die Winterreise" (1827) in which twenty-four short films by South African artist William Kentridge were shown.

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Ayn Rand was haunting Dutch theatre as early as 2006.

by Wijbrand Schaap
24 June 20143 November 2024
4 min read
Holland Festival, SPECIALS, THEATER, BECOME A MEMBER

Ivo van Hove has not only a play made based on Ayn Roland's novel of ideas The Fountainhead. In 2006, the artistic director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam even wanted to base a whole new design of the theatre system on it. Eight years later, we can see that only the negative aspects of Van Hove's vision have been realised.

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7 confusing reasons why the stage version of The Fountainhead rattles, but you should still go.

by Wijbrand Schaap
19 June 201430 March 2022
5 min read
Holland Festival, SPECIALS, THEATER

Topical again, now that Toneelgroep Amsterdam is reviving the play, my review from 2014. This week, the stage adaptation of The Fountainhead premiered. The book is terrible, the performance rattles, the actors win only narrowly. The content, however, creates even more confusion, which is why I won't stop you from going to see it. And Hans Kesting, of course. I put it this way.

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Subsidy goes mostly to the rich. Thanks to austerity.

by Wijbrand Schaap
8 June 201411 July 2016
3 min read
ACTUAL

Dutch museums do not pay for the art they present. Cable companies stick money from writers in their own pockets. Spreading new journalism platforms without permission and without paying the work of small independents. Libraries are closing down, and are being replaced by private libraries or school libraries.

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'Mogadishu' fits into zeitgeist of moral confusion

by Wijbrand Schaap
27 January 201329 March 2022
3 min read
ACTUAL, For members only

Once upon a time, subsidised theatre was a left-wing hobby. Now, two years on, subsidised theatre has effortlessly conformed to the prevailing, much more right-wing trend.

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