Ivo van Hove ropes in stars for his first Ruhrtriennale, including PJ Harvey, Sandra Hüller and Isabelle Huppert

Between August 16 and September 15, the Ruhrtriennale festival will take place again in Bochum, Essen, Duisburg and Dortmund, the former heart of the German mining and coal industry. As the new intendant, director Ivo van Hove (65), a lover of monumental theater, is undoubtedly delighted. The industrial sites that the festival uses as locations are so impressive that every theater room pales in comparison.

Star director Van Hove presents many big names for his first edition. He himself opens the festival with the musical theater production I want absolute beautya monologue for none other than Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a fall, The zone of interest). Together with music by PJ Harvey and the dancers of the Ballet National de Marseille, it promises to be a top production. Hüller has a special bond with Bochum: as a theater actress she played there under former NTGent director Johan Simons in the Schauspielhaus Bochum. “PJ Harvey is one of the most influential singer-songwriters of our time and Hüller is a force of nature on stage,” says Van Hove. “It is an honor to work with them.”

Other international eye-catchers are Romeo Castellucci, who Berenice by Racine adapted with actress Isabelle Huppert in the leading role. Russian dissident Kirill Serebrennikov gets to work on the work of film director Sergei Parajanov. Chorwerk Ruhr allows the music of Björk and Anton Bruckner to clash. Van Hove also invited his partner Eline Arbo, who was allowed to take over his seat at the International Theater Amsterdam last year. She produces together with her partner Thijs van Vuure Haugtussa with music by Edvard Grieg.

Van Hove has also thought about the Belgians. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker creates a new choreography for the Museum Folkwang in Essen, inspired by paintings by Manet, Rothko and Caspar David Friedrich. She previously did this in the Louvre and the Neue Nationalgalerie. Berlinde De Bruyckere presents a sequel to her in the massive Jahrhunderthalle City of refugeinstallations about the duality of human nature. And Opera Ballet Flanders is a guest at the festival for the first time with Near future by Jan Martens. He and Ivo van Hove previously worked together on the musical Jesus Christ superstar.

Opening nightthat other musical by Van Hove with music by Rufus Wainwright, is doing less well on London’s West End: the production is stopped two months earlier than planned after disappointing reviews and sales. The New York Times called the play, which was based on Van Hove’s 2006 theater hit with Toneelgroep Amsterdam, a tasteless melodrama. The standard was positive. “I always try to be sincere and fearless in everything I make,” Van Hove responds. “Of course it’s a shame that the show ends early, but Opening night will always have a special place in my heart.”