Muriel moves from a small village to the big city of Brussels, hoping to start an independent life working as a museum guide. She rents a room from Laura, who has a room to spare now that her mother is in hospital. Laura is a vital and candid woman who has a child-wish but leads a very chaotic life. Meanwhile, Muriel's mother has a hard time accepting that her daughter leads a life of her own now, and she also faces some changes at the factory where she works. The movie follows the interconnected lifes of these three women of three different generations, who all face different problems.

2017 film by Nathalie Basteyns, Kaat Beels

In the menacing inferno of the old North-American West, Liz is a genuine survivor who is hunted by a vengeful preacher for a crime she didn’t commit.

A wedding is planned in the 1930s on the Andalusian countryside. The marriage is loveless because it was arranged by the families for business reasons: the bride and groom hardly know each other.
A wedding is being planned on the Andalusian countryside in the 1930s. The marriage is loveless as it is arranged by the families for financial reasons: bride and groom hardly know each other. When the bride's former lover shows up on the day of the party, old feelings resurface. Driven by an indestructible love, the bride and her lover run off during the party. A savage manhunt is launched. The outcome is fatal.

Blood Wedding, by the Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, was staged with the ITA Ensemble by internationally renowned Belgian choreographer and director Wim Vandekeybus, a regular guest in our dance programming. Known for his strong physical and theatrical dance language, he was previously responsible for the dance scenes in Ivo van Hove's Age of Rage at ITA. Music, video and film are an integral part of his theatrical expression. For Blood Wedding, Vandekeybus worked together with his son, film director Fernando Vandekeybus.

2010 film by Nanouk Leopold

2023 film directed by Tim Mielants

After The hidden force, Ivo van Hove made a second adaptation of a novel by Couperus: The things that pass, this time a coproduction with Toneelhuis (Antwerp).

Directing The hidden force, Ivo van Hove got rid of the image that had been stuck to Couperus since the 1970s. Not a costume drama in The Hague, no tempo dulu (the good old days). But he did get straight to the core of this visionary novel: the culture of the west, irreconcilable with that of the east.



The second project is based on the majestic psychological novel Old people and the things that pass (1906). Couperus imagined an ‘appalling and dreadful tragedy’. We see how a hushed-up murder of passion in the Dutch East Indies continues to have a devastating influence on the family of the elderly Ottilie and Takma. The hushing up of their adulterous relationship and the murder of Ottilie’s husband leave deep traces in the consecutive generations, who are trapped in an unresolved past.

Lot and Elly are the youngest members of this doomed family. They hope to be able to free themselves from the stranglehold of The Hague, but arrive back home disillusioned after their honeymoon in Italy. There is no escaping this family that is damaged by horrible secrets that should never become known.

Just like in The hidden force, Couperus shows that he is far ahead of his time. He paints the portrait of a modern family that does not cohere and is literally spread out to all the corners of the world. The family members struggle with their lustfulness, their faith, dreams of material happiness and mutual jealousy. A family where almost nobody dares to give in to their deepest wishes and desires, to be who they really are.

The plague is making its way through Thebes. The oracle says the city is doomed because the murder of King Laius has remained unpunished. His successor Oedipus wants to free the people, who suffer greatly, of this curse. He leads the investigation personally. This is not the first time for Oedipus. He previously solved the riddle of the sphinx. He is determined to leave no stone unturned. The outcome is devastating: to everyone’s great dismay – not in the least his own – Oedipus himself turns out to be the culprit

Sophocles’s most famous tragedy is the first story about crime and punishment. But just how guilty is Oedipus? He fled from his supposed parents when the oracle predicted he would kill his father and marry his mother. He killed Laius, whom he did not know, out of self-defense. Jocasta was offered to him for marriage after he freed Thebes from the sphinx. What is he to blame for? Oedipus did all he could to escape fate. The startling conclusion is that none of it has made a difference: the course of his life was predetermined and he will be punished no matter what.

Oedipus’s quest is full of surprising twists. This turns the story into a chilling thriller. It is impossible not to be affected while watching someone head towards his demise while being determined to discover the truth. Oedipus is much more than the story of a man who has looked but not seen. The age-old attraction will always be how recognizable his fate is: the vulnerability of existence. And the fact that it is nearly impossible to control our lives and fortune.