From Amsterdam to the West End: the avant-garde hit factory behind The Years and Oedipus

The Guardian

07-04-2025

The Royal Court and Regent's Park Open Air theatre were among the victorious venues at Sunday's Olivier awards, which recognise the cream of London's Theatreland. But there was reason to celebrate in the Netherlands, too. The bold West End productions Oedipus and The Years, which picked up four awards between them, have their origins at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA).
The theatre's artistic director is Eline Arbo, who adapted and staged a version of Nobel prize-winner Annie Ernaux's The Years for an all-female cast. After its success in the Netherlands, Arbo was invited to London's Almeida theatre to direct the show with British actors. Among them was Romola Garai, who won the Olivier award for best actress in a supporting role, while Arbo was named best director. The production received rapturous reviews and has transferred to the West End where its run (which ends on 19 April) has been accompanied by regular reports of audiences fainting during its abortion scene.
Garai calls Arbo a 'genius' and said that the production's power is a result of fusing several elements of theatre-making from around Europe. 'Eline is Norwegian so she comes from that tradition of Ibsen. Amsterdam has ITA's incredible tradition of physical and quite conceptual work. And England has this usually narrative-based, text tradition. I think The Years is a perfect example of how when you marry those elements together you can make really great, exciting work that feels very challenging in the best way to an audience.'
Arbo, who became the sixth woman to win the best director Olivier award, said she was delighted by how British audiences had responded to The Years. 'There are talks [for ITA] to come more to England,' she said. 'For us to be able to show these productions to a British audience, and have that collaboration, is so important. It's one of our biggest missions: how to share different perspectives from different cultures. We are an international house.' Arbo said that increasingly 'politicians want to close borders' but it is vital 'to have that exchange of perspective to develop culture'. Brexit, she said, had not been a significant obstacle for her to work in the UK.
When Rufus Wainwright's version of the film Opening Night flopped in the West End, the composer suggested British audiences lack 'curiosity' after Brexit and that the British press had turned on the project for being 'too European'. Opening Night was directed by the Belgian Ivo van Hove, Arbo's predecessor at ITA, who combined a 20-year tenure leading the Dutch ensemble with high-profile, often star-powered freelance productions in London. It was Van Hove who invited Britain's Robert Icke to Amsterdam to adapt and direct a new version of Sophocles' Oedipus in 2018. 'I'd written an English script that was translated – they acted and talked to each other in Dutch and to me in English,' Icke told the Guardian. 'It had the potential to be profoundly alienating but I loved it.
Icke won best revival for Oedipus at the Oliviers and said in his acceptance speech that the chance to stage a new version of his adaptation at the Wyndham's theatre had been 'amazing'. After an ensemble of ITA actors performed it at the Edinburgh international festival in 2019, the London production paired Mark Strong, in the title role, with Lesley Manville as Jocasta. Manville, who won the Olivier award for best actress, said that Icke's time at ITA had 'shaped a lot' for him. 'After that production he did some reworking of Oedipus. He was very happy and comfortable working in Amsterdam … He obviously saw that it could have another life here.' Its success has left Manville 'almost wanting to text Sophocles!' she joked.
Three years ago, Rebecca Frecknall was the toast of the Olivier awards as her version of Cabaret picked up seven prizes. ITA took note of the rising star director. She was invited to Amsterdam to direct a version of Strindberg's Miss Julie with the ensemble in 2024, designed by another Brit, Chloe Lamford. Earlier this month, Frecknall was announced as ITA's Ibsen Artist in Residence, a position previously held by Icke. Frecknall said that Arbo had been 'a great support in delivering my first ITA production last year' and added: 'It's going to be wonderful to have a home at this incredible theatre for the next three years and to keep working with their talented ensemble of actors.' You wouldn't be surprised if she and Arbo are back celebrating at the Oliviers before too long.