A View from the Bridge, Written by Arthur Miller, Directed by Ivo Van Hove, Young Vic Theatre London

Arthur Miller’s classic has been stripped to its bare core in this invigorating production at the Young Vic. The lumbering scenery has gone; the realism has been stifled; the moral overtones have been diluted. Ivo Van Hove has broken the play down into its key ingredients and forensically examined them to create a production that is gut-wrenchingly intense in its relentless drive towards tragedy.

Ivo made his name as a grand auteur in European theatre. His first production in Britain was the stupefying Roman Tragedies, a 6-hour multimedia Dutch language production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra. It was a mesmerizing spectacle that changed my understanding of what theatre and Shakespeare could be forever.

This production at the Young Vic is his first production specifically for a London theatre.  Thankfully, it doesn’t disappoint.

Miller’s play about an American longshoreman who is struggling to release his paternal grip on his orphaned niece is one of the most revived plays in the canon. Hove has managed to make this production startlingly fresh by stripping back the play’s superfluous baggage and instead focusing on the play’s tragic core.

The action takes play entirely within a black box on stage. Outside of a chair, there are no props. Choral music eerily chimes in the background and the beating of a drum marks the transition between scenes. There are moments of realism, and there are moments when the play almost grinds to an expressionistic halt. It is almost unbearably gripping. Hove toys constantly with our breaths as the action speeds up and down towards its final outpouring of grief, remorse, and tragedy.

The final five minutes are as good as you’ll ever see on the London stage. Hove has always been a master of theatrical death, and this production is no different. In fact, it arguably trumps the rest.

I could wax lyrical for hours on the merits of this production. If you have never understood the appeal of theatre, if you have never been moved by a production on stage, if you think film is the height of drama, then go and see this production. It could change your life.