Ivo van Hove (Turnhout, 1958) began his career as a theatre director in 1981. Starting out at smaller companies like AKT, Akt-Vertikaal and De Tijd, where he was artistic director and director, he worked his way up to larger organizations like Het Zuidelijk Toneel, the Holland Festival, and finally, Toneelgroep Amsterdam – henceforth operating under the name of ‘International Theater Amsterdam’ – , where he has been company director since 2001. With an exceptionally long list of international awards to his name, Van Hove has become someone not to be overlooked on the global stage as a sublime actors’ director who not only transforms classical theatre repertoire into moving and ultra-contemporary drama but also creates new repertoire based on adaptations of film scenarios and novels. Romeinse tragedies and Kings of War after Shakespeare, Na de repetitie/ Persona after Ingmar Bergman, Les Damnés (with La Comédie- Française) and of course the recent Lazarus musical production (with David Bowie) in New York are only a small selection from a successful oeuvre.