鈥淚t was my primal first instinct when I read this script,鈥� director Ivo van Hove says, 鈥淸that] this could be a meaningful work to bring to the stage. I was amazed by how much the play resonated with the time we live in. It seems like science fiction from the 1970s, but we live in this science fiction at this moment.鈥�
Van Hove is talking about Network, the hit Broadway play that he is directing at the Belasco Theatre. Based on the 1976 film written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet, the drama, a critical and audience success in its initial production at the National Theatre in London, stars Bryan Cranston, who won a Tony on Broadway as Lyndon Baines Johnson in All the Way, four Emmys on TV as Walter White in Breaking Bad, and the 2018 Olivier Award in London as TV newscaster Howard Beale in Network. Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) adapts the movie for the stage.
Chayefsky wrote Network as a satirical take on TV network news鈥� battle for ratings, and what they鈥檒l do to achieve dominance. The movie won four Oscars, including ones for Chayefsky鈥檚 screenplay and Peter Finch鈥檚 portrayal of Beale. It is widely viewed as predictive of today鈥檚 world of cable news madness, crazed competition, rigidity of belief systems, 鈥渁lternative鈥� facts, and the elusiveness of truth.
The Belgian-born van Hove, 60, is the artistic director of the Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the biggest repertory theatre company in the Netherlands, and world-renowned for his modern, experimental and oft-categorized avant-garde direction. His Broadway credits include revivals of Arthur Miller鈥檚 The Crucible and A View From the Bridge, the latter of which won the 2016 Tony for Best Revival of a Play, and for which he won the Tony for Best Direction of a Play.
Off-Broadway he has won two Obies, for Hedda Gabler and More Stately Mansions, at New York Theatre Workshop. His other Off-Broadway credits include David Bowie鈥檚 Lazarus, Scenes From a Marriage, The Little Foxes, The Misanthrope, and A Streetcar Named Desire鈥�all the way back in 1999鈥攁ll at New York Theatre Workshop.
Next year, he is scheduled direct a Broadway revival of West Side Story, with all new choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker replacing the much lauded Jerome Robbins original, which has been part of every production since the 1957 Broadway premiere. The revival is scheduled to arrive in New York next December.
Van Hove spoke about Network, his directing career, and his future plans.
Why he became a director:
鈥淚t was a process. I am the son of a pharmacist in a very small town, 2,000 inhabitants. Culturally, there was nothing. There was a little cinema that had one movie every three weeks. And then it changed into another movie for the next three weeks.
鈥淚t was not that I was brought up by going to the theatre or the movies, or to ballet, or dance. It was when I went to boarding school when I was 11 that I got in touch with the theatre, coincidentally. On a Wednesday afternoon there was a choice we had to make, because there was no teaching going on. We could do sports, or we could go into the town and meet the girls, or you could join a theatre group. And I joined the theatre group. I don鈥檛 know why. It was just an impulse. An impulsive choice.
鈥淪o very early in my life I discovered the warmth of the theatre. Rehearsing together for a whole year, every Wednesday afternoon, and at the end showing it to your fellow students and also to your parents. It was in a little theatre, 800 seats, quite beautiful. I felt the warmth. The feeling of being a family, and making something in total secrecy, and then suddenly come out with it and get applause if it was good, or criticism when it was not that good.
鈥淭hen I was on a search. I finished boarding school when I was 17. I knew I wanted something in the arts or being a journalist. I didn鈥檛 know exactly. It鈥檚 very hard when you鈥檙e 17 to know what you want with your life. It really was, before I decided that being a director was going to be my mission in my life, and I must say since then I never regretted that decision for one second.
鈥淎fterward, when I think back, everybody that knew me when I was very young tells me you were always a director, you were always telling us what to do, how to do it and things like that. This leadership, leading a group toward something, seems to have been with me for a long time before I was aware of it.鈥�
His directing principles:
鈥淏e yourself. That鈥檚 really the one and only. Be yourself. Don鈥檛 fake. A few years ago I had to meet David Bowie for this project he wanted me for [Lazarus]. David Bowie was my idol when I was a young man. I was a real fan. I came to New York to see him in The Elephant Man. I had no money at all. I went to work to get a little bit of money to just see The Elephant Man.
鈥淚 was flying here for the meeting and I said to myself, 鈥業vo, you have to be just Ivo tomorrow. Not idolizing him.鈥� I went into the meeting and had to convince myself, 鈥楯ust be yourself, don鈥檛 try to please him.鈥� So if I could do it with David Bowie I could do it with everybody.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e in front of an actor, if you think you don鈥檛 want something, just say 鈥業 have to think about it鈥� or just 鈥業 don鈥檛 know.鈥� Be open. Be transparent. Be yourself. That鈥檚 the main thing as a director you have to do. And the other thing is keep listening. Don鈥檛 think you鈥檙e always right yourself. Even when you think you鈥檙e right, keep listening to what the people around you are saying. Make your own decisions at the end of the day, but keep listening. It鈥檚 very hard in previews to keep listening, but you can always improve your production. And everything that improves your production, you should accept. And not think, 鈥極h, I didn鈥檛 come up with the idea, so I鈥檒l put it away.鈥� 鈥�
An actor in his rehearsal room 鈥� an example of how he directs:
鈥淚鈥檓 not a director with a system that everybody has to fit in. I have a set of organizational rules, how I like to rehearse, but basically in my relationship with actors, I deal with every actor on an individual level. I try to understand how she or he wants me to direct her, what he or she needs.
鈥淏ryan Cranston loves to talk about a scene before he does it. He doesn鈥檛 only go on his impulses. He has great impulses, but he wants to discuss why and how before he starts exploring it for himself. So that鈥檚 what I do with him. But there are actors in my own company, for instance, that I know want no talking, just doing. Just entering, saying a line, somebody else with lines. And you have a more emotional way of meeting the characters. So I try to be open to every way an actor wants to develop the role.
鈥淲hat I don鈥檛 like too much is psychologizing endlessly about a character, or when an actor says, 鈥業 don鈥檛 think my character would do that.鈥� And then I always say, 鈥楧id you meet him or her?鈥� And then it鈥檚 always silent. Because a character is just an illusion. We create it. The actor has to create it, in as much a personal way as possible. It鈥檚 not an existing character. There鈥檚 Bryan Cranston playing Howard Beale. If somebody else plays Howard Beale, with the same stage directions, it would turn out a little bit different. That鈥檚 normal.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the way I behave in my relationship with actresses and actors.鈥�
A mistake he made that he learned from:
鈥淭here have been a lot of them. My worst productions have been the ones I鈥檝e learned the most from. Some productions are on the way to developing something that turns out to be great afterwards. It鈥檚 a creative process. It鈥檚 not a product. It鈥檚 a creation. It鈥檚 not like making Coca-Cola and we reproduce it all the time, or we give it a little bit different marketing. The taste of Coca-Cola is always the same. That鈥檚 why people buy it. But in theatre, every production is different. New actors, new people around you. The idea of creation is the core of what we do. Therefore, it鈥檚 scary sometimes. If you made a good production two months ago that doesn鈥檛 mean you鈥檒l make a great one in two months鈥� time. That means you have to find tools for yourself for how to prevent a production from being a disaster. But from a disaster sometimes you learn the most.
鈥淎 few years ago, I鈥檓 not going to say which one, I had a production in which I clearly made a wrong choice on the material. The material was not strong enough. There were wonderful actors on stage, and it played as well as it could, but it didn鈥檛 really work deep down.
鈥淪o I worship the moment of choice of material. From that mistake I learned even more to take seriously that the first moment, the decision of the material, is crucial for the creation that will follow.鈥�
A decision he made that paid off:
鈥淎lso many. I鈥檓 the artistic director of a big company in Holland, it鈥檚 called the National Theatre Amsterdam. I have a huge career outside of it, not only in New York but also in London and Paris and Germany sometimes. It鈥檚 very hard work, but the best decision I鈥檝e ever made was to combine these two worlds. Because every time I come back to Amsterdam I鈥檓 refreshed again, and every time when I go outside I鈥檓 loving to have new actors in front of me. In Amsterdam, I work with an ensemble of actors, which is great because you can develop over the years. But it鈥檚 also great to meet new people.鈥�
About his production of Network:
鈥淭his production doesn鈥檛 only talk about the media 鈥� it is the media. You see the machinery of the media at work, how it works, how it shifts. You see the shift from just giving you the facts toward an entertainment show and what we call now 鈥榝ake news.鈥� It鈥檚 not so easy to distinguish them from each other. Everyone says they鈥檙e right. You look at Fox, they say they are right, you look at CNN, they are also right, about the same issue, which is not possible because they are saying the opposite things.
鈥淚 thought it was important that we see the machinery of how a live television show is made, the pressure of it. I have been on a lot of live television shows, and there is this clock ticking, and when it鈥檚 seven o鈥檆lock it just starts, even if you are not ready. You have to be ready. There鈥檚 this pressure cooker that people live in, and I want the audience to have a visual, emotional feeling about it. That was my main goal.
鈥淗aving live cameras, as we do onstage, gives you a very dynamic production. It鈥檚 almost like choreography, because every detail is staged, every camera movement is staged, every look into the camera or away from the camera is staged. It鈥檚 not coincidental. And this is really important to bring across the real message of Network.鈥�
About West Side Story, and the new choreography:
鈥淭he idea came from me. I went to [producer] Scott Rudin and he said 鈥極h, yes, West Side Story, let鈥檚 do that.鈥� Then he said yes but one condition 鈥� new choreography. Because if you want to make or try to make a West Side Story for the 21st century it needs another take on it. I don鈥檛 want there to be a misunderstanding, because the original Broadway production had fabulous Jerome Robbins choreography. And the movie, which I know better because that鈥檚 what we saw in Europe, was a masterpiece with Robbins鈥� choreography. I鈥檓 not challenging that, but I think it deserves a new take now, 60 years later, generations later.
鈥淚t needs another vision, another possibility. And all the [creators and creators鈥橾 estates supported this because they could have said no, but I think they all feel that it鈥檚 time to do this.鈥�
Hear more from van Hove on the specific choices he made for Network during 半岛体育鈥檚 live interview with the director on opening night:
