ITA Live: Kings of War

Ivo van Hove
2021-01-22

Ivo van Hove merges William Shakespeare's plays Henry V, Henry VI and Richard III into one explosive performance about leadership.
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270 min

In Kings of War, director Ivo van Hove focuses on political leadership. The original texts were retranslated by Rob Klinkenberg and then thoroughly adapted: the Hundred Years' War between England and France, and the Rose Wars between the houses of Lancaster and York for the English throne, which are emphatically present as a historical context in the original pieces, were referred to the background in the adaptation in order to accommodate a varied portrait of successive kings. As leaders in times of political instability and war, they show remarkable affinities with world leaders today.