Jan Versweyveld Set designer

Biography

Born in Belgium, Jan Versweyveld studied set designing at the Saint-Luc Institute in Brussels and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Since 1981, he has worked with Ivo van Hove for the most pioneering Dutch-speaking companies. In 2001, he joined the Internationaal Theatre Amsterdam, previously known as Toneelgroep, as set designer and principal decorator. He has designed the sets and lighting for many theatrical productions, from classics to contemporary plays. In addition to his regular collaboration with Ivo van Hove and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Jan Versweyveld has worked with numerous directors, including Johan Simons, Guy Cassiers, Pierre Audi and Christof Loy. He designed the stage sets for Lulu and the complete cycle of the Tetralogy at the Flemish Opera, I due Foscari at La Monnaie in Brussels, The Makropulos Case, La clemenza di Tito, Iolanta, Salomé at the Dutch National Opera.

In 2002, he won a Bessie Award for his stage sets in Drumming Live at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and in 2005, the Lucille Lortel Award and Obie Award for the scenography of Hedda Gabler at the New York Theatre Workshop, the Proscenium Prize, together with Ivo van Hove, for their work achievement and the Knight of Illumination Award for Song from Far Away (2016) at Toneelgroep in Amsterdam. Productions revived in France include The Roman Tragedies, based on Shakespeare, Scènes de la vie conjugale, Cris et chuchotements, Opening Night, Husbands and Wives, La Voix humaine, L’autre voix, Maria Stuart, Le Misanthrope, L’Avare, Les Damnés and Électre / Oreste. In the 2023-2024 season, he designed the stage sets for Dead Man Walking at Metropolitan Opera New York.

At the Paris Opera: Drumming Live, 1980; Rain, 2001; Elektra, 2005; Fidelio, 2008; Così fan tutte, 2017; Boris Godounov, 2018; The Six Brandenburg Concertos, 2019; Don Giovanni, 2019

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