ABSTRACT
Ivo van Hove is very generous. One priceless gift he has bestowed on those engaged in researching and studying the art of performance is to have adapted fifteen or so films for the stage, among them the most noteworthy of the 1960s and 70s. Furthermore, they were produced by several of the greatest creative auteurs in the entire history of cinema. Six of them, to be exact, all renowned for their mastery in the exercise of their craft and their capacity to explore the human condition, which has given them status as cultural points of reference; and for their originality, bordering on subversion, which has at times earned them abuse, not to mention the lawsuits brought against them. I am referring to Ingmar Bergman (in this context represented by Cries and Whispers, Scenes from a Marriage, Persona, and After the Rehearsal), John Cassavetes (Faces, Opening Night, Husbands), Michelangelo Antonioni (La Notte, L’Eclisse, L’Avventura), Luchino Visconti (Rocco and His Brothers, Ludwig, and The Damned), Pier Paolo Pasolini (Teorema), and Joseph Losey (The Servant).
