Ivo van Hove - Toneelgroep Amsterdam

How, in the present day, does Ivo van Hove interpret the seventeenth-century comedy 'L'Avare' by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, alias Molière? A French actor and playwright at the court of Louis XIV, Molière did indeed live in a world that was far removed from ours. A society where everything revolved around the Sun King, where the clergy and the aristocracy ruled the roost. The widower Harpagon is obsessed with money. He oppresses his children, daughter Elise and son Cleante, who only have one objective: to get married as soon as possible. Ivo van Hove does not view Harpagon's avarice as a trait but as an attitude to life. Harpagon believes that his actions are morally just: increase money whatever the cost. Ivo van Hove sets out to discover what lies at the centre of human relationships, and extends this greed to all the characters. Materialism and egocentrism are found in all eras. Molière's characters are therefore recognisable contemporaries whose empty lives are filled with hip hop music, video games and keeping track of the stock exchange. The character comedy about a cold and calculating miser can also be read as the drama of a dynasty, a series of scenes from a marriage, or as a work by Sarah Kane... What they all have in common is man's need for love.