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Ivo van Hove on His Famously Short Rehearsal Times

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Samuel R. Delany

Jonathan Bailey

Piet Oudolf

Beanie Feldstein

Daniel Roseberry

Radha Blank

Katerina Tannenbaum

Ethan Hawke

Christopher John Rogers

Katie Stout

Raja Feather Kelly

Aleshea Harris and Whitney White

Jamie Nares

Saweetie

Patricia Urquiola

Rirkrit Tiravanija

Faith Ringgold

Louise Erdrich

Sheila Hicks

Virginie Viard

Tschabalala Self

Jordan Casteel

Toshiko Mori

Caroline Polachek

Daniel Romualdez

Ivo van Hove

Pim Techamuanvivit

Pierre Hardy

James Whiteside

Mona Mansour

Chika

Manuel Solano

Kid Cudi

Director

Ivo van Hove

Rehearsing a New Play

Van Hove, 63, photographed in the rehearsal space at New York Theatre Workshop in the East Village, Manhattan, on Dec. 22, 2021.

Justin French

Ivo van Hove on His Famously Short Rehearsal Times

Since his first production a quarter-century ago, the director has honed a process defined by tight schedules and bold, decisive changes.

April 21, 2022, 5:00 a.m. ET

I was at New York Theatre Workshop 25 years ago with my first production: Eugene O’Neill’s “More Stately Mansions” (1964). Since then, people have called me “the man you love to hate or hate to love” — a badge of honor, as far as I’m concerned. Later, I moved on to Broadway, but I kept returning to NYTW. Its rehearsal space is upstairs on the third floor, and I originally disliked it because it feels like a big living room, but eventually I fell for it. I’ve now done eight productions here, the last of which was “Lazarus” in 2015 with David Bowie.

When we took this portrait, I was preparing for a February festival in Amsterdam, where my company and I presented several plays based on the works of the French novelist Édouard Louis. My most recent adaptation of one of his books, 2021’s “Combats et Métamorphoses d’une Femme” [“A Woman’s Battles and Transformations”], premiered in the Netherlands last September. Édouard’s story of growing up gay in a provincial town was also the story of my life — I’m from the village of Kwaadmechelen in northern Belgium — and I connected with his struggle: the loneliness of a young homosexual; the desire to get away.

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24 Hours in the Creative Life

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When you’re adapting a novel, you must find a way to make it into theater. You have to invent. “Combats et Métamorphoses” was done with actors from my own ensemble, Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, since I like to work with people I trust and who trust me. There was, for example, this one crisis moment where the character of Édouard’s mother loses her mind. It can easily be over-the-top but, during rehearsal, we kept changing the dialogue, cutting things and also adding.

I’m known for my short rehearsal times: just six weeks. My last two weeks are famous among theater people because things move at a very high speed. In “Kings of War” [a single-play amalgam of William Shakespeare’s “Henry V,” “Henry VI” and “Richard III” that traveled to Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2016], I cut 40 minutes the day before opening night. In these rehearsals, I make it clear that people can tell me anything; we’re all so deep in the material. But I don’t give notes after a full run-through. People are tired, and they just want to hear that it’s good. That also helps me not be impulsive.

This process has taken a long time to develop. In the beginning, I spent weeks talking about the play. Now I don’t do that, perhaps because of those early experiences back at NYTW. For “More Stately Mansions,” I had only four or five weeks before the first preview, and I thought, “Well, if I’m going to sit at a table for two weeks, there’ll never be a premiere.” Against my will, I was forced to immediately rehearse, and I found myself liberated. It’s more freeing to just get into a space and start.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

The Artists

A glimpse into how creative people live and work, from dawn to dusk to the early morning hours.

5 a.m.

Samuel R. Delany

Writer
6 a.m.

Jonathan Bailey

Actor
7 a.m.

Piet Oudolf

Garden Designer
8 a.m.

Beanie Feldstein

Actor
8 a.m.

Daniel Roseberry

Fashion Designer
9 a.m.

Radha Blank

Writer and Filmmaker
9 a.m.

Katerina Tannenbaum

Actor
10 a.m.

Ethan Hawke

Actor
10 a.m.

Christopher John Rogers

Fashion Designer
11 a.m.

Katie Stout

Artist and Furniture Designer
11 a.m.

Raja Feather Kelly

Choreographer
12 p.m.

Aleshea Harris and Whitney White

Playwright and Director
12 p.m.

Jamie Nares

Multidisciplinary Artist
1 p.m.

Saweetie

Rapper
1 p.m.

Patricia Urquiola

Architect and Industrial Designer
2 p.m.

Rirkrit Tiravanija

Artist
2 p.m.

Faith Ringgold

Artist
3 p.m.

Louise Erdrich

Writer
3 p.m.

Sheila Hicks

Artist
4 p.m.

Virginie Viard

Fashion Designer
4 p.m.

Tschabalala Self

Artist
5 p.m.

Jordan Casteel

Artist
5 p.m.

Toshiko Mori

Architect
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Caroline Polachek

Singer-Songwriter
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Daniel Romualdez

Architect and Decorator
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Ivo van Hove

Director
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Pim Techamuanvivit

Chef
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Pierre Hardy

Accessories Designer
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James Whiteside

Ballet Dancer
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Mona Mansour

Playwright
11 p.m.

Chika

Rapper
12 a.m.

Manuel Solano

Artist
1 a.m.

Kid Cudi

Musician and Actor

Source: Theater - nytimes.com


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Playwright Aleshea Harris and Director Whitney White Bond at a Taqueria

How Manuel Solano Found Joy by Playing Music