The Intensification of the Novel: Ayn Rand's and Ivo van Hove's The Fountainhead

This chapter reads the recent theatrical adaptation of Ayn Rand's 1943 novel _The Fountainhead_ by Toneelgroep Amsterdam (TGA). It considers the adaptation as a new departure for its director, Ivo van Hove who, prior to 2014, had consistently claimed that he had no interest in bringing novels to the stage. The chapter then goes on to consider the specifics of how van Hove reads Rand's novel as an argument for human creativity and freedom in a way that is resonant with the ideology of films (many from the 1960s and 70s) that TGA have adapted. It considers the specifics of Van Hove's adaptation under the four headings of Cinema, Writing, Love and Light.