Guy Cassiers (1960), artistic director of Toneelhuis, has developed a very personal theatrical language in which technology has the rather surprising effect of deepening emotions.
He combines his fascination with technology with a passion for literature. High points include Bezonken rood (Sunken Red, 2004) after the novel by Jeroen Brouwers, and the four-part Proust cycle (2002-2004).
There is also a growing appreciation of his work internationally. In recent years he has concentrated on his Triptych of Power - Mefisto for ever, Wolfskers and Atropa. Avenging peace - about the complex relationships between art, politics and power. He is now taking that theme a step further in a new triptych based on Robert Musil's novel Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (The Man without Qualities), the first part of which will have its première at the end of the 2009-2010 season. Apart from the image, music is also playing an increasingly important role in Cassiers' productions as evidenced once again by two new opera creations: House of the Sleeping Beauties (music Kris Defoort) and Adam in Ballingschap (Adam in exile; music Rob Zuidam). It is perhaps no coincidence that he has been asked to direct Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen in Milan and Berlin. Cassiers opens the 2009-2010 season with another Götterdämmerung: Onder de vulkaan (Under the Volcano) after the novel by Malcolm Lowry about the tragic decline of an alcoholic consul in Mexico.
Cassiers’ theatre projects for the next few years reflect a growing interest in European history and the realization that we are standing on a fault line.
