12/13 english surtitles on thursdays english surtitles on thursdays barry atsma, hans kesting, roeland fernhout | husbands | rennes | 2012 Toneelgroep Amsterdam (TA) is the largest repertory theatre company of the Netherlands. Each season TA premieres new plays of internationally acclaimed directors, such as Ivo van Hove, Thomas Ostermeier, Johan Simons, Luk Perceval and Grzegorz Jarzyna, but also provides opportunities for new directing talent. In addition, the theatre group reprises several of its most successful pieces from previous seasons. The Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam poses as TA’s home base, but the group travels throughout the Netherlands and abroad. TA operates internationally with organizations such as Brooklyn ‘His work is unique, raw, shocking, surprising, Academy of Music, Schaubühne Berlin, Barbican London and Holland Festival. Whilst reviewing a performance in the latter, Michael Coveney of The Independent exclaimed: ‘The overall hilarious - everything you want theatre to be,’ scope of this wonderful project was impressive because of the acting quality of Toneelgroep Amsterdam. It made you want to go straight on to Amsterdam and catch the rest of their asserts actress and artistic director Cate Blanchett on the work of repertoire.’ Toneelgroep Amsterdam’s general director Ivo van Hove. This season TA will be providing English surtitles for all its Thursday evening performances in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. Surtitles during performances of TA are projected as close to the actors as possible and are always controlled manually, making it easy to follow the action for visitors who do not understand Dutch. macbeth othello Director Johan Simons (intendant of the In his masterpiece of revenge, Munich Kammerspiele) sees Macbeth, Shakespeare unflinchingly contrasts the Shakespeare’s shortest and bloodiest malicious villain Iago with the honest and tragedy, as a study in violence. Not a principled hero of the play’s title, and in psychological study, but a genetic one. the process delivers some of the most Simons: ‘Where does the story take place? electrifying and exquisite language in the Obviously not in a fairytale landscape, canon. Othello’s consuming passion for his more likely a shooting range. It is an wife Desdemona descends into paranoia experiment. A conscious choice for evil, as Iago uses language as a weapon for for true bloodlust, lying deep inside all of intimate destruction, sowing the insidious us, genetically predetermined.’ seeds for the tragic hero’s fall. by william shakespeare by william shakespeare directed by johan simons directed by ivo van hove the nora ‘From now on, forget happiness. Now taming of it’s just about saving the remains, the wreckage, the appearance.’ This sinister the shrew statement comes from Torvald Helmer, who together with his wife Nora, appears to lead the ideal life, in a perfect marriage. The Taming of the Shrew is one of The fundamental issue in Nora (A Doll’s Shakespeare’s as well as one of TA’s House) is the conflict between warm most controversial plays. Baptista, a rich and vibrant Nora and her possessive, Paduan merchant, announces that his unbending Helmer. A devoted wife and fair young daughter, Bianca, will remain mother, who romps with her children, Nora unwed until her older sister, Katharina, is ready to dance a tarantella to charm her a hellish shrew, has wed. Meanwhile, husband. Petruchio, a fortune-hunting scoundrel Trapped by her own sacrifices to love, from Verona, arrives in Padua, hoping to Nora is forced to assert her own dignity capture a wealthy wife. Hortensio, a suitor and worth as an individual. of Bianca, directs Petruchio’s attention to Katharina. When Hortensio warns him by henrik ibsen about Katharina’s scolding tongue and directed by thibaud delpeut fiery temper, Petruchio is challenged and resolves to capture her love. by william shakespeare directed by ivo van hove after the disgrace After becoming embroiled in an affair rehearsal / with a student, Lurie has taken refuge on his daughter Lucy’s farm in the Eastern persona Cape. For a while, her influence and the natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonize his discordant life. But the After his successful staging of Scenes balance of power in the country is shifting from a Marriage (2005) and Cries and and he gets caught up in a mess of post- Whispers (2009), Ivo van Hove is once apartheid politics when he is forced to again directing two works by Ingmar come to terms with the aftermath of a Bergman. This time, the audience will brutal attack on the farm. have the chance to see two Bergman performances in a single evening. Both by j.m. coetzee scripts explore the meaning of art in our directed by luk perceval lives and in society. As always, Ingmar Bergman does this with great personal intensity and humanity. Uncompromising and compassionate. by ingmar bergman directed by ivo van hove coproduction théâtre de la place (liège), théâtres de la ville de luxembourg, maison des arts de créteil the angels in russians! america The Russians! – starring virtually the ‘It was awe-inspiring, it completely blew entire ensemble – is Tom Lanoye’s radical me away,’ expressed playwright Tony adaptation of Chekhov’s Ivanov and Kushner in NRC Handelsblad after visiting Platonov, in which the protagonists meet the performance in 2009. for the first time. Ivanov feels trapped Angels in America takes place in New in a marriage with a Jewish woman. He York during the eighties. It is a mosaic of dives into a romance with the younger stories about people struggling with love, Sasha. When his wife catches him with sexuality and the disastrous consequences his mistress, she reacts furiously and of AIDS. Louis deserts his friend Prior, who dies. His feeling of uselessness increases is terminally ill. The marriage of Joe and and becomes a noose around his neck. Harper Pitt falls apart. The extreme-right Platonov, the village teacher, is married but lawyer Roy Cohn discovers that power nor this doesn’t stop him from courting a host money will protect him from death. Angels of other women. His debauched lifestyle in America was awarded the Pulitzer Prize charms his friends for some time, but his and was made into a movie starring credit slowly dwindles. Al Pacino and Meryl Streep. Ivo van Hove made it into a five-hour theatre marathon. by tom lanoye after chekhov directed by ivo van hove by tony kushner coproduction holland festival, directed by ivo van hove international theatre festival dialog-wroclaw children of husbands Husbands is based on John Cassavetes’ the sun film and tells the story of ‘men in menopause’. In a desperate attempt to The unworldly scientist Protassov has rekindle their youth, three friends – Gus, withdrawn with his wife Jelena and sister Harry and Archie – immerse themselves Lisa to the parental home where he is in a weekend of drinking, gambling and working madly on a visionary idea: the women. Having left their families and potential of mankind to overcome its responsibilities behind them, they rush biological limits to found a new society. He headlong into the city’s hectic nightlife. is oblivious to everyone around him and They are catapulted back to their youth, cuts himself off from the rumours of revolt revelling in their lust for life and living out and cholera engulfing the city. A lack of their male fantasies. But all of this is set sympathy and social conscience leads to against a backdrop of mortal fear and an escalation in the situation both within the realization that three garages, five and beyond the estate walls. Their utopian children and two wives are waiting for visions to be like children of the sun are them back home. eclipsed by forces which they themselves have ignored for too long. by john cassavetes directed by ivo van hove by maxim gorky coproduction prospero, théâtre directed by ivo van hove national de bretagne rennes production TA / NTGent all my the seagull The Seagull dramatises the romantic and sons artistic conflicts between the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, her All my Sons by Arthur Miller is the sad son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Post-World War II story about the Kellers, Tréplev, and the famous middlebrow a seemingly ‘All American’ family. But the story writer Trigorin. It’s Chekhov’s most father, Joe Keller, has concealed a great well-known and best-loved play; the work sin. During the war, he allowed his factory exhibits all of the qualities that helped to ship faulty airplane cylinders to the to cement the Russian playwright in the U.S. Armed Forces. Because of this, over minds and hearts of theatre-goers around twenty American pilots died. the world. by arthur miller by anton chekhov directed by thibaud delpeut directed by thomas ostermeier coproduction toneelschuur producties ticket sales calendar 12|13 box office Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam Open Monday to Saturday, 12:00 - 18:00 or before a performance. 16 aug 20:00 macbeth On Sunday and public holidays, the box office is open two hours 23 aug 20:00 the taming of the shrew before the start of a performance. 30 aug 20:00 othello telephone +31 (20) 624 23 11 (Monday to Saturday, 12:00 - 18:00) 6 sep 20:00 othello 8 sep 20:00 husbands You can also book and print tickets online at 13 sep 20:00 the taming of the shrew www.ssba.nl or www.tga.nl/en. 20 sep 20:30 othello Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam is the municipal theatre of the city 22 nov 20:00 macbeth and serves as Toneelgroep Amsterdam’s home base. Located in the heart of Amsterdam on the vibrant Leidseplein (Leidse Square), the 6 dec 20:30 nora Stadsschouwburg welcomes you to come early, or stay late in Café- 13 dec 20:30 nora Restaurant Stanislavski, where food and drinks are served all day.