Ivo van Hove: Kings of War, Barbican

Ivo van Hove is the hottest director around. His colossal, triple Oliver-winning A View from the Bridge was surely one of the greatest productions of the decade. Starring Mark Strong, it transferred from the Young Vic to the West End, and then Broadway. Not many London-born productions of Arthur Miller could pull that off...

Now, the high brow experimentalist-turned-superstar brings his mammoth Kings of War to the Barbican.

The play conflates Shakespeare's troubled kings Henry VI, Richard III and Henry V and masterfully places them into the modern political landscape. Weighing in at 4 hours, and in Dutch, it might not be the most ebullient of evenings. But this weighty Toneelgroep production, which premiered in Amsterdam last year, punches as hard as A View..., and is as intricately textured as Hove's celebrated 2009 Roman Tragedies at the Barbican.

As with all productions by the Belgian director, you can expect a stark and merciless ordeal. With typical directorial flair, we're given a mixture of live action and video: think close-ups, political speeches and atrocities of war.

There's no time to decide if four hours is too many - tickets are flying. Book now.