Im Herzen der Gewalt
‘Intense, involving production’ – New York Times
On 25 February, you will have a front-row seat at home during this impressive performance through the ITALive livestream.
In his novel History of Violence, Édouard Louis reconstructs the night of the main character’s rape and abuse. But the trauma of the rape extends far beyond that night. Louis weighs the incident against the violence in society. He shows how the violence committed from above, by governments and the police, trickles down to all sections of the population – and lands the hardest on those who are being discriminated.
Start time 07:30 pm
Duration 120 min
Location Rabozaal
Language German with Dutch and English surtitles
Livestream Feb 25, 08:00 pm CET / 07:00 pm GMT, € 12.50
Dutch premiere
The show uses stroboscopic lighting effects
With In Gesprek with Christoph Gawenda and Laurenz Laufenberg on 24 February (language: English)
The story is not only told from the perspective of the main character, but also by other people involved: doctors, nurses, police officers, his sister, her husband. It becomes painfully clear that he has no power or authority over his own story. The amorous encounter and the violent outcome are interwoven with the police interrogation afterwards, the reception at the emergency room, the words of his sister who reports to her husband.
Police officer: 'Taking a stranger upstairs in the middle of the night…'
Édouard: 'Everyone does that.'
Police officer: 'Everyone…?'
Édouard: 'My kind.'
-|-German director Thomas Ostermeier, together with Édouard Louis, made a theatrical adaptation for the actors of the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz in Berlin. Scenes edited in quick succession - not in chronological order - provide different angles of the experience. Between the scenes, Thomas Ostermeier inserts choreographic moments, in which the actors unexpectedly form a dance trio or quartet.
ITALIve
On February 25, the performance will be streamed live from ITA. The stream has English and Dutch subtitles. Ticket buyers will receive an email two hours before the start with the link and a personal password.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to watch the livestream at another time. We play the performance live on the ITA stage and the livestream is a direct connection so that you can watch what is happening in ITA at home.
After the performance on 24 February
In Gesprek with Christoph Gawenda and Laurenz Laufenberg
In Gesprek is a returning programme of ITA. Come and think, listen and talk after the performance.
After the performance our discussion leader will talk to actors Christoph Gawenda and Laurenz Laufenberg and the audience. With Im Herzen der Gewalt as a starting point, we invite the audience and our guest to explore the theme further, to exchange experiences and to ask questions to each other.
The press
‘Took the audience’s breath away.’- Süddeutsche Zeitung
‘Two hours of finely balance theatre with excellent actors.’ – Nachtkritik.de
‘You want to close your eyes and run from the theatre: it’s right up against the limit of what is bearable. […] A memorable evening at the theatre.’ – Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung
‘Un texte qui fait mal à celui qui le raconte comme à celui qui le regarde.’’ – Telerama.fr
Credits
Based on the book by Édouard Louis
directed by Thomas Ostermeier
with Christoph Gawenda, Laurenz Laufenberg, Renato Schuch, Alina Stiegler and Thomas Witte (musician)
associate director David Stöhr
set and costumes Nina Wetzel
music Nils Ostendorf
video Sébastien Dupouey
dramaturgy Florian Borchmeyer
lighting Michael Wetzel
collaboration choreography Johanna Lemke
credits photo Arno Declair
10th edition
Brandhaarden 2022
Brandhaarden is an international theatre festival that brings performances by notable theatre makers from abroad to Amsterdam. The festival offers a unique overview of one creator, house, region or theme. Previous editions have put the spotlight on directors such as Katie Mitchell, Milo Rau and the Rimini Protokoll collective, and city theatres such as Münchner Kammerspiele, Volksbühne Berlin and Peter Brook's Théâtre Bouffes du Nord. In 2020, the festival focused for the first time on one region, Southern Europe, and showed notable dance and theatre productions from Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece.
The tenth edition of the ITA Festival, from 19 February to 3 March, focuses on the work of one of the greatest French literary sensations of the moment: Édouard Louis.