Edo nothing for a year. Bernhard Paul, the director and founder of the Roncalli circus, had always wished for that. In the spring of 2020, this wish came true – but in a different way than Paul had imagined. After the successful dress rehearsal of the new program “All for Art for All” in March 2020, Mayor Christoph Tesche knocked on the door of Paul’s salon car the evening before the premiere in Recklinghausen and announced the bad news to the puzzled director: “I’m sorry, You are not allowed to play tomorrow.”
Because of the corona pandemic, the long-awaited sabbatical year became a two-year forced break for Paul, which his company was only able to survive thanks to short-time work and state support. On March 10th, Roncalli made up for the premiere in Recklinghausen after a two-year delay and is now making a guest appearance in the middle of Cologne on the Neumarkt, after which he will embark on a tour of Germany and Austria. Paul’s preliminary Corona balance sheet is: “All’s well that ends well – if Corona doesn’t strike again.” In any case, the audience is pouring out again in droves, the artists in the new show are bursting with energy.
“The time when everything must be told”
The city of Cologne will not be stingy when Paul celebrates his 75th birthday on May 20th. Mayor Henriette Reker hosts a reception for the zampano of German circus art in the town hall. On this occasion, Paul wants to get down to business when it comes to the circus museum. The architectural plans for a building in Cologne are available, the concept is in place and the financing is in place. The only thing missing is the expansion site next to the Roncalli headquarters in Cologne-Mühlheim. “After the birthday reception, I won’t leave the town hall until I’ve been promised the property will be sold,” announces the patron jokingly.
Two years of compulsory Corona break did not mean doing nothing for him. During this time he shot the film “A Clown – A Life”, which will soon be released in cinemas, and did the preparatory work for a Ufa documentary series about Roncalli. In addition, Paul has signed deals for two books that he is currently working on. “My journey to the rainbow” is the title of his autobiography, which is to be published by Brandstätter later this year. A thick volume with many photos and pictures is also in the works, in which Paul will present the story of Roncalli and his guests. Who knows, for example, that the singer Sting once wanted to learn tightrope walking from Roncalli. Or that Roncalli was the first Western circus to perform in Moscow during the Cold War. “Now is the time when everything needs to be told,” says Paul.
In any case, the circus director was not bored during the Corona break. And now that the touring business is back on track, he has to take care of the show as well. Soon he will probably dream of a sabbatical year again.
“Art”, i.e. art, is the focus of the new show, which Paul had started composing four years ago and which was finished in 2020, but was no longer performed due to Corona. The director got the art moving – literally, as actors appear as the work of Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt, or in the person of the Russian contortionist and equilibrist Maria Sarach as a living Mondrian painting.
Finally, elephants also find their way into the strictly animal-free Roncalli arena, but only as holograms that are projected onto a gauze curtain around the circus stage at the beginning of the performance. “All for art for all” is a total work of art made up of colour, sound, costumes, artistry and clowning, in which everything flows and merges: exuberant joie de vivre, quiet poetry, frenzied fun.
The outstanding number comes dramaturgically clever at the very end, namely the hand-to-hand and head-to-head acrobatics of the two Italian brothers Davide and Andrea Caveagna, who together manage what their brothers in spirit, the Pellegrini brothers, the four of us have managed to harmoniously combine beauty and strength. The highlight of their performance is a trick in which one of the brothers balances upside down on the other’s head – down and up the stairs.
The male troupe Jump’n’Roll inspires with a risky triple somersault on the sling board as well as with their fast-paced ballet on springy stilts. The women from Duo Luna offer elegant aerial acrobatics, while Vanessa and Sven have swapped roles in an equilibristic number on a grand piano on which orchestra leader Georg Pommer is striking the notes: she works with strength as the subwoman, he with an amazing sense of balance as gliding artist who uses her hands and legs to perform his tricks.
Classic Roncalli poetry radiates the magical soap bubble performance of the clown Carillon, who is accompanied by his daughter Nox. The act of the comedian Krissie Illing, who as a queen with her royal household, enters the arena and pulls a stuffed poodle behind her, has a twisted British twist. In general, the show comes up with a number of convincing jesters, above all the young Rico transmits his good mood to the audience. This delighted the audience in Cologne after a long absence from live experiences, who thanked Paul and his troupe with a standing ovation at the end.
The Roncalli circus will be performing in Cologne with the show “All for art for all” until May 22nd, after which it will play in Düsseldorf from May 26th to June 26th, and then invite the public from August 10th to September 4th Ludwigsburg, and continues the guest performance from September 14th to October 9th in Vienna. A trip to Frankfurt is also planned for the summer.
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