Photographer：© Jan Versweyveld

Reviews

In this cold-eyed, hot-blooded work, Kings of War takes the home-viewing pleasures associated with serial television portraits of cutthroat schemers, like those in House of Cards and The Sopranos, and magnifies them to the proportions of grand opera.

New York Times

This is Shakespeare for the 21st century, shorn of majesty, unlovely and horribly familiar. (...) it’s realised with ingenuity, intelligence and verve: a hurtling history play for today.

The Times

Recommendation of the Committee

Ivo van Hove's Internationaal Theater Amsterdam combines three of Shakespeare’s history plays in this renowned production. From Henry V’s passion and dedication to Henry VI’s fateful lack of resolve and Richard III’s maniacal lust for power, Shakespeare guides us into the dark recesses of political rule, the psychology of the political leaders and the sinister machinations of the advisers surrounding them. Proof that nearly 400 years after his death his plays are more alive than ever.

Cast

Performers: Ramsey Nasr, Eelco Smits, Hans Kesting, Chris Nietvelt, Janni Goslinga, Bart Slegers, Gijs Scholten van Aschat, Aus Greidanus, Alwin Pulinckx, Harm Duco Schut, Celia Nufaar, Ilke Paddenburg, Hugo Koolschijn, Jip van den Dool

About Ivo van Hove

Ivo van Hove began his career as a theatre director in 1981. From 1998 to 2004, van Hove managed the Holland Festival. Here he annually presented his selection of international theatre, music, opera and dance. Productions by Ivo van Hove have been performed at the Festival d'Avignon, Edinburgh International Festival, the Venice Biennale, the Holland Festival, Theater der Welt and the Wiener Festwochen, and more. He has directed the ensembles of La Comédie-Française, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Staatstheater Stuttgart and New York Theatre Workshop. His La Voix Humaine was performed at the 2nd Wuzhen Theatre Festival in 2014.

About the Holland Festival

Artistic innovation and experimentation have been the Holland Festival’s key values since its founding in 1947. Every year in June, the festival showcases ground-breaking productions by artists from all across the world and new developments in the performing arts. From theatre, dance, music, musical theatre and opera to multi-disciplinary forms and cross-overs with the visual arts, digital art, photography and film, the Holland Festival wishes to be a catalyst for exceptional productions, and sees this as its role and its strength.

About Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA)

Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg and Toneelgroep Amsterdam (TA) merged on January 1, 2018, and from the 18/19 season onwards we have operated under the name Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA). It is one of the leading lights of the Dutch theatre, with a large ensemble of world-famous actors and a pioneering team of directors. We are currently working on a new organization that will act as a beacon for contemporary theatre and cater to audiences from Amsterdam and around the world, leading the way at the national and international levels. We produce a high-quality program with 600 pluriform national and international theatre and dance performances every year, and social programs that appeal to a wide range of audiences, bringing them new ways of understanding and seeing the world.