“Exhilaratingly acted.
Unexpectedly affecting
and flat-out hilarious.”
The Netherlands
Australian Debut
New York Times
“A captivating and
theatrically complex
work.” Theatermania
Toneelgroep Amsterdam/NTGent
OPENING
NIGHT
By John Cassavetes
Directed by Ivo van Hove
Toneelgroep Amsterdam
brings new meaning to the term
‘in-your-face’ with its technological
theatrical treatment of the 1977
John Cassavetes film classic
Opening Night
Take a unique glimpse behind the scenes of
a theatre company in crisis in Toneelgroep
Amsterdam’s captivating multidisciplinary
production Opening Night. With this production
Melbourne Festival introduces Australia to the
work of one of the greatest theatrical talents of the
decade, the revolutionary director Ivo van Hove.
In this large-scale theatrical adaptation of John
Cassavetes’ award-winning cinema classic
about an ageing actress who confronts her own
mortality after the sudden death of a young
fan, we see a theatre company in the hectic
lead-up to the opening night of a new play. And
both on and off the stage things are not going
well. Through an ingenious combination of
performance and live video feed, fragments of
the play alternate with rehearsals, conversations,
conflicts and the leading lady’s increasingly
hysterical breakdown.
Lighting and stage designer Jan Versweyveld’s
artful set features a theatre within a theatre,
creating a play within a play, with action taking
place amongst the audience and some of the
audience sitting on stage doubling as fictional
spectators. Camera operators follow the actors
on stage an