Roman Tragedies

Shakespeare that jumps straight from the headlines! Ongoing war, secret deals made by politicians, on-the-spot interviews, fiery speeches about democracy, cameras peering into private lives – it’s all in Shakespeare’s writing. All that’s required is to stage it for a contemporary audience, a tour de force realized by director Ivo Van Hove in this presentation of three Roman tragedies – Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra – that shed light on the political mechanisms of our contemporary world. The setting is an international convention centre, with its television studio, omnipresent screens, computers and big sofas. Spectators walk about freely, getting drinks or consulting their e-mails as political events rapidly unfold around them, like live CNN footage. The Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the biggest theatre company in Holland, presents a powerful spectacle of rare intelligence.