PERFORMANCE DETAIL

The little man with a moustache, bowler hat and a cane is known all over the world. But who is really hidden beneath this character? That is exactly the question Mario Schröder has been thinking about while creating the ballet performance Chaplin. His rocketing career caught the attention of the public and the clown became a political figure. However, Chaplin’s beliefs did not convince the American conservatives. He was accused of supporting communism and banished. Schröder’s ballet shows Chaplin’s life in connection to his work and presents the artist hidden beneath the character of a funny tramp, who studies his surroundings sensitively.

 

The German choreographer Mario Schröder describes his Chaplin as a fascinating and complex personality full of contrasts and captures Chaplin’s characteristic combination of emotional, yet direct, clown-like comedy, sympathy and sense of justice in an unfair world. Thus the originally playful grotesque turns into a testimony of fundamental ethics and human relations in general.