The Fountainhead (play)
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by Ayn Rand
| The Fountainhead | |
|---|---|
 Cover of program for the 2014 Amsterdam production | |
| Written by | Ivo van Hove |
| Based on | The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand |
| Date premiered | 15 June 2014 |
| Place premiered | Stadsschouwburg |
| Original language | Dutch |
The Fountainhead is a play written in 2014 by Belgian theatre director Ivo van Hove. It is an adaptation of the 1943 novel of the same name by Russian-born American author Ayn Rand. The story focuses on Howard Roark, an individualistic architect who designs modernist buildings and refuses to compromise with an architectural establishment unwilling to accept innovation. The production, running more than four hours, uses video projections to show close-ups of the actors and Roark's drawings, as well as backgrounds of the New York skyline.[1][2]
Since its debut at the Holland Festival in June 2014, the play has received mostly positive reviews from European critics for productions in the Netherlands, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. American critics gave mostly negative reviews to a production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival in 2017.
Howard Roark, a modernist architect who refuses to follow traditional styles, struggles to develop a successful career. He competes with rival architects Peter Keating and Guy Francon, who copy past buildings to achieve public acceptance. Roark has an affair with Francon's daughter Dominique, who later marries newspaper magnate Gail Wynand. Roark agrees to help Keating with the design of a housing project. When the terms of their agreement are broken, Roark demolishes the building and is prosecuted. Roark is acquitted, and Dominique leaves Wynand to be with Roark.
Cast and characters
The characters and cast from the original Amsterdam production are listed below:
| Character | Cast[3] |
|---|---|
| Howard Roark | Ramsey Nasr |
| Peter Keating | Aus Greidanus, Jr. |
| Ellsworth Toohey | Bart Slegers |
| Gail Wynand | Hans Kestling |
| Dominque Francon | Halina Reijn |
| Guy Francon | Hugo Koolschijn |
| Henry Cameron | Hugo Koolschijn |
| Austen Heller | Hugo Koolschijn |
| Mrs. Keating | Frieda Pittoors |
| Catherine Halsey | Tamar van den Dop |
| Steven Mallory | Robert de Hoog |
| Alvah Scarret | Robert de Hoog |
History
Author Ayn Rand's bestselling novel The Fountainhead, a 700-page epic,[4] was published in 1943.[5] Belgian theatre director Ivo van Hove, the artistic director for the Dutch theater company Toneelgroep Amsterdam, was given a copy of the novel as a gift in 2007. After reading it, he was immediately interested in adapting it for the stage, but he was not able to secure the adaptation rights until 2012.[5] The four-hour-plus production[4] debuted at the Holland Festival on 15 June 2014.[3] Ramsey Nasr starred as Howard Roark, with Halina Reijn as Dominique Francon.[3]
After its debut the play went on tour, appearing in Barcelona, Spain, in early July 2014[6] and at the Festival d'Avignon in France later that month.[1] The play appeared at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris in November 2016.[7]
The company traveled to the Republic of Korea in 2017, presenting the play at the LG Arts Center in Seoul from 31 March to 2 April.[8][9] Later in 2017, the play had its first American production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival, where it ran from 28 November to 2 December.[10] The play debuted in the United Kingdom at the Manchester International Festival in July 2019.[11]