Arts & International Affairs: 2.3: Autumn/Winter 2017 | Page 24

ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
My perspective on the power of theatre also reflects the work of contemporary directors.
One of the European artists I follow most closely (I’m a great admirer of his work) is
the Dutch director Ivo van Hove. He would approve of Greig’s Suppliant Women, since
he feels strongly that theatre can reflect powerfully on politics, especially when there is
a distance between current context and the original setting of the play. So, 2,500 years
between Aeschylus and the current migration crisis in Europe should do fine! And his
own Kings of War (a compelling retelling of Shakespeare’s Wars of the Roses plays) was
eminently relatable to more recent events on the European political stage. But he is ada-
mant that he seeks no direct change himself: “if you want change,” he says, “you’d better
go into politics!”
Van Hove thinks that theatre has been declared dead many times. Its resilience to date
indicates it will undoubtedly survive the twenty-first century ... a credible power in itself.
As a live social event, it fulfils a basic human need, almost unlike any other art form in
its ability to create a communal empathy. Issues of society are always deeply rooted in
theatre. Bergman said theatre was what made it worthwhile being on this planet.
Figure 14: Roman Tragedies, Toneelgoep Amsterdam
Van Hove, though, is more radical when it comes to the audience, looking always to
express things in the most extreme way for impact. In his magnificent epic Roman Trag-
edies (Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra all rolled into
one), he cut all the citizen scenes, but effectively recreated the citizenry by allowing the
audience to roam on and off the stage, witnessing the action from close-up, framing it
and populating it. His theory is based on thoughts on the changing nature of theatre
spaces—from open air ten thousand capacity arenas in Greece, to semi open in Shake-
speare’s day, to semi-private in the nineteenth century, to darkness and individual priva-
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