Ivo Van Hove, the director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam, is probably one of the most outstanding talents on the contemporary European scene. Van Hove is well known in the U.S., where he won an Obie Award for his off-Broadway productions, in Australia, Canada and Asia, and he is now working for the first time in Italy, with an exciting version of Jean Cocteau’s La Voix Humaine. This splendid monologue, possibly one of the most touching ever written for a female performer, conveys the torment of sentiment through a long telephone call. Words, which are the true protagonists of this play, are unfurled in truncated sentences and questioning silences, and succeed in conveying the voice at the other end of the line to the audience. Van Hove proposes a refined interpretation, that is perfectly balanced between morbid voyeurism and hesitant involvement, the perfect ploy for Halina Reijn, the well-known and talented Dutch actress, who is familiar to the audiences thanks to films like Black Book by Paul Verhoeven, Hotel Paraiso by Paula van der Oest and Valkyrie by Bryan Singer.
by Jean Cocteau
translated by Halina Reijn, Peter van Kraaij
dramatised by Peter van Kraaij
with Halina Reijn
directed by Ivo van Hove
stage design and lighting by Jan Versweyveld
Toneelgroep Amsterdam (Holland)
Teatro Gobetti | Italian première| Durata 1h 10′
October 16, 2010 | 9 pm
October 17, 2010 | 8 pm
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