I Did It My Way

“It’s a story about a couple that has been married for years. They have two adolescent kids. And one morning – in one of the songs in the beginning — the woman just leaves. She closes the door with one word: ‘Goodbye’. No explanation, no quarrel, no conflict, no adultery whatsoever. She leaves because she is not happy anymore. And that was my starting point.”— Ivo Van Hove

Frank Sinatra’s concept album Watertown tells the story of a break-up in an American town and the end of modest happiness from the male perspective. In Ivo Van Hove’s I Did It My Way the woman has a voice. She speaks through the songs of Nina Simone. For the reason for the break-up in his story lies not so much in personal differences but in social and political imbalances.

The man stays behind in their home and loses himself in the pain of separation. The woman goes out into the big wide world and confronts the political dimensions of her own identity and social position as a Black woman. While she learns to navigate her new life, the man remains in the past. The songs of Frank Sinatra and Nina Simone provide insight into the emotional process of the two characters and their relationship, which they fight to regain piece by piece.