Milo Rau’s Work as Artistic Director of NTGent: Toward an Art of Creating and Listening Together

Peter M. Boenisch and Lise Sofie Houe survey the 2018–20 tenure of Swiss director Milo Rau as artistic director of ntgent, the city theater of Ghent, Belgium. Contextualizing his role and actions within the European city theater system, the authors also examine his artistic programming and output in the period, personally and institutionally, with particular emphasis on works produced at ntgent. The authors focus especially on Rau’s efforts to produce work with global collaborators, as seen in his Orestes in Mosul (2019) and other works. Boenisch and Houe additionally summarize critiques of Rau’s practice from other thinkers and artists and Rau’s response to these critiques.