Abke Haring (b. 1978) has been one of the Toneelhuis’ permanent theatre-makers since 2010. She writes plays, directs them and acts in them too. She also appears in productions by other directors, such as taking the role of Hamlet in Hamlet vs Hamlet directed by Guy Cassiers. Haring had already worked at Toneelhuis, having created Kortstond in 2004 and Hoop in 2006. She acted in Luk Perceval’s Het kouwe kind (2003) and Turista (2005), in Josse De Pauw’s Beats (2006), in Lotte van den Berg’s Gerucht (2007), in Guy Cassiers’ Mefisto for ever (2006) and Atropa. De wraak van de vrede (2008), and in De indringer directed by Peter Missotten (2010).
That same year Abke Haring wrote and directed a new play, HOUT, in which she herself also appeared. A little later she played one of the two lead roles in Guy Cassiers’ production of Bloed & rozen. Het lied van Jeanne en Gilles. FLOU followed in 2011. Again she wrote the script, and she directed herself and her opposite number Han Kerckhoffs. “Flawless”, “a beautiful wound” and “great art”, were the critics’ descriptions. In 2012 Abke Haring made Song#2 with Benjamin Verdonck, “a gem of ritual experience theatre. One we should cherish.” In November 2013 Abke Haring made TRAINER, a play which “makes economic dominance physically tangible”. In March 2014 Abke Haring took on the lead role in Hamlet vs Hamlet. directed by Guy Cassiers and written by Tom Lanoye. It won her the Theo d'Or for the best female lead role. In the autumn of 2014 she appeared in Maeterlinck’s De blinden directed by Guy Cassiers. In the autumn of 2015, Abke Haring made a solo based on a new script that she wrote herself, UNISONO. In 2016, she performed in De welwillenden (The Kindly Ones), after the similarly named novel by Jonathan Littell, also directed by Guy Cassiers. In the 2016-2017 season, she is acting in De dingen die voorbijgaan, based on the novel Old People and the Things That Pass by the Dutch writer Louis Couperus, directed by Ivo van Hove; and in Grensgeval (Borderline), a play by the Austrian author and Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek, directed by Guy Cassiers.
For the 2017-2018 season, Abke Haring wrote a new piece, PLATINA, which she is performing together with Koen van Kaam. With PLATINA, Abke Haring is concluding a period of 14 years of working as a Toneelhuis maker and actor. From the 2018-2019 season onward, she will be making and acting in productions as a freelancer.
