Toneelgroep Amsterdam concluded season 13|14 by premiering The Fountainhead directed by Ivo van Hove. Ayn Rand wrote the ideological novel in 1943; a portrait of the brilliant young architect
Howard Roark and a controversial and vivacious tale about following your ideals without compromise.
This season a rerun will start.
summary
The Fountainhead reports the battle between Howard Roark, who follows his calling as an architect and refuses to make concessions for his clients, and Peter Keating, who opts for commercial success and social prestige.
‘The theme of my novel', said Ayn Rand, 'is the struggle between individualism and collectivism, not in the political arena but in the human soul. My aim in writing The Fountainhead was always to present a novel whose protagonist embodies the ideal man.’ That man is Howard Roark, an architect who longs to build modern skyscrapers while surrounded by colleagues who adhere to a more classical style of building design. It is this battle between innovation and tradition, between inspiration and compromise that Ayn Rand has written down with inimitable insight. But the Fountainhead is also the account of a life-or-death struggle between two lovers. Howard Roark and the ravishing Dominique Francon; two likeminded souls who fight for their freedom and autonomy.
ivo van hove
When I first read the novel the characters gripped me, each and every one of them humans of flesh and blood, and at the same time they are larger than life. They are symbols for ideas of grandeur: There’s the brilliant architect Howard Roark who follows his own ideals and dreams of a new world, a city of tomorrow. And then there is Peter Keating, his colleague who constantly compromises and adapts his designs to fit the market’s demands. The battle between Roark and his adversaries is bloodcurdlingly well written. To me, The Fountainhead is a war of ideas. The great question the book poses: What is creation? What does it mean to create? And what is integrity in the process of creating? The novel is set in the milieu of architects in New York’s Roaring Twenties, where the battle between modernism and classicism raged, but even today its questioning of creation is one that plays in our minds: The balance between the commercial and the innovative, the market and pure expression. Rand uses the architect’s world as a metaphore to discuss art, engagement, individualism and autonomy. But The Fountainhead is also a love story that tinkers at the edges of decency. A relentless love develops between Howard Roark and Domonique Francon, that shows the hardships of giving yourself wholly to another while maintaining your own integrity. At a certain point Roark states: ‘I could die for you, but I couldn’t and wouldn’t live for you.’ It is an engaging, addictive novel that was begging to be staged.' says Van Hove.
ayn rand
Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was a writer and a philosopher. After fleeing the Soviet Union to the United States, Rand set herself resolutely against socialism and all forms of altruism. She believed in the ultimate freedom of the individual. Her books and notions are inspirational, provocative and became cult treasures with millions of editions. Her other great novel Atlas Shrugged, an ode to capitalism, is the most popular book in the United States after the Bible, and it was thé source of inspiration for the Republican Party during the past elections.
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