Internationaal Theater Amsterdam

Toneelgroep Amsterdam is the largest repertory company in the Netherlands. Its home base is the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg, a classical 19th century theatre building in the heart of Amsterdam. In 2018 Toneelgroep Amsterdam merged with Stadsschouwburg to form Internationaal Theater Amsterdam.

History

The Dutch Company Toneelgroep Amsterdam started in 1987 through a merger of and with Gerardjan Rijnders as its artistic director. His montage-method of creating plays and his avant-garde stagings of classic plays were very influential in the Netherlands, as well as abroad. Following the fusion, artistic director Jan Ritsema departed the group the same year, with Rijnders citing "insurmountable difficulties" and the leadership proclaiming that departure was necessary for the continued existence of the organization. The company struggled early on with attracting an audience to the Stadsschouwburg. Theater director Wim Bary heavily criticized their programmes for being too elitist and one-note. The personnel of the Stadsschouwburg were similar critical, with their spokesperson stating that the company had only fifty visitors on average.

In 1994, Toneelgroep Amsterdam moved to an empty warehouse at an old power plant in Amsterdam Oud-West, it received the name of ''Transformatorhuis''. This would fulfill a long-time wish of artistic director Rijnders, who since the beginning wanted to have his own theater where he could have complete creative control. This was deemed an impossible ask for the Stadsschouwburg. The move caused problems with the city government, Ernst Bakker warned them if they stopped playing at the Stadsschouwburg, that had review how much subsidies the company would receive. The director of the Stadsschouwburg, Cox Habbema, echoed the sentiment underlining that this would create significant financial problems for the theatre if they lacked their own theatre company.

Since 2000 the company is led by Flemish director Ivo van Hove. He and his long-time designer Jan Versweyveld broke through the confinements of the classical stage to rediscover the stage as a "location." For their production ''Faces'' (an adaptation of John Cassavetes's film) the audience watched the show lying in beds.

International

Many of Toneelgroep Amsterdam's productions travel abroad. For instance, van Hove's adaptation of several of Shakespeare's plays, presented under the title ''Roman Tragedies'', was shown at the major European theatre festivals (Wiener Festwochen, Festival d'Avignon, Theaterformen). '' Opening Night'', another adaptation of a Cassavetes film, was shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York in December 2008, and at Melbourne Festival in Australia in October 2010, which was van Hove's Australian debut. "Ivo van Hove's work has been groundbreaking in opening up audiences' understanding of classic texts and films. His work is unique, raw, shocking, surprising, hilarious – everything you want theatre to be – and he doesn't shy away from the ugly or the profane. In a word, stunning, with a capital ‘S’." (Cate Blanchett)

Company

Director: Ivo van Hove
Ensemble: Hélène Devos, Jip van den Dool, Fred Goessens, Janni Goslinga, Aus Greidanus jr, Marieke Heebink, Robert de Hoog, Hans Kesting, Hugo Koolschijn, Maria Kraakman, Ramsey Nasr, Chris Nietvelt, Celia Nufaar, Frieda Pittoors, Halina Reijn, Gijs Scholten van Aschat, Harm Duco Schut, Bart Slegers en Eelco Smits.

Eric de Vroedt is an established guest director at Toneelgroep Amsterdam.

References

External links

Official websiteToneelgroep Amsterdam's YouTube-channel

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1987 establishments in the Netherlands
Culture in Amsterdam
Organisations based in Amsterdam
Theatre companies in the Netherlands