Surreal Camping Rimini

Baden (Switzerland) is a city which - once discovered - never really lets you go. Cozy streets of the old part with its welcoming cafes and cultural venues: province at its best, familiar, yet never boring and capable to surprise again and again. 

Every summer Stella Mark Palino Brunner (A former clown, mime and rope dancer, an actor, director and theater manager, and a symbol of Baden since years) puts up a summer theatre, bringing together friends, professional artists, musicians, acrobats under the same roof. This summer is the roof (or rather say many little camping tents) of Camping Rimini. 

 Image www.baden.ch

This contemporary theatrical work is a reflection on the possible and impossible coexistence of people.  Camping site - the model of our colorful and complexed complex  world.  Grotesque, political, surrealistic, funny with a touch of fatalism - for two hours Camping Rimini keeps you keen and wondering “What comes next?”... Life-size giraffes, piano soaring above spectators, rope dancers, racing cars – what else is needed to keep you entertained? :-)  

  Nadine Tobler and Yannick Longet

 Maren Gamper in a retro futuristic suit is soaring above spectators while playing piano

If you happen to be around Baden these days do go and see Camping Rimini summer theatre. The show goes on till September 11^th 2011. For detailed information  go to http://www.sommertheater-baden.ch .

Just a few hundred meters from the camping site there was another wonderful event last night:  two years anniversary of Frau Meise, a little cafe and a design shop in the heart of the old Baden. Here antique furniture and fresh homemade cupcakes meet young designers from all over Europe. Regular concerts take place as well. For more info go to http://www.fraumeise.ch. 

Gotta run now. Have a nice Sunday, everybody!
Love,
A.B.

Cloud 8 (Wolke 8)

This weekend is all snowflakes and glowing fireplaces, and friends gathered in a warm bar with a romantique name Je t'aime. Hmmmm, feels good, almost like on a cloud number nine. It is Cloud 8, actually, a new humorous theater piece of Simona Hoffman and Tobias R. Pingler, two young artists from Aargau. She is a movement actress, and a graduate of Dimitri school. This year Simona (www.simonahofmann.ch) debuted with her first one woman show "Night explodes your dreams".  He is a passionate voice artist (RAP), author and actor (www.tobias-pingler.net).

Couple in real life, they make a wonderful creative tandem "Schweiss & Geist", showing  contrasting approaches and bringing different experiences on stage, which this time looks like one giant bed, piled with fluffy blankets and pillows. The plot? A love story, of course. All fairy tales end with "they got married and lived happily ever after". The question is "HOW do they live happily ever after?"

Image courtesy of www.simonahofmann.ch

The couple dressed in their pyjamas leads us through a labyrinth of their romance. Black and white setting is deluded with soft color fields of spotlights, as if allowing us to sneak into this couple's life, or is it a reflection of our own?.. The play is abstract and surrealistic, and easy to try on. I couldn’t hold myself laughing out loud throughout the show. If you happen to be in Switzerland, dont miss a chance to find yourself on Cloud 8.   Next performances are at Theater Marie in Suhr (Aargau), Dec 1, 3, 4 at 20h15. 

And speaking of artistic tandems I cannot bypass another creative couple: Maren et Yannick Coléoptère, whose performance "Chronik der Gefühle" (Chronicle of the Feeling) I saw last week in Tearto Palino, Baden. Maren Gamper is a talanted piano player; Yannick Longet is a genious mime actor. They tell their tragic story through movement and music. Currently they work and live in Dijon, France, but I will make sure to follow their productions in the future. 

Image courtesy of www.facebook.com

Alors, I hope you had a good weekend and I wish you a great start tomorrow. Monday is no day to have your head in the clouds, unless it’s a Cloud 8. ;-)

Love, 
AB