As the old story goes, was the word in the beginning. Then God created day and night, and divided the light from the darkness – or the light from the shadow. It is also the word, “logos”, that disturbs Faust in the famous study scene and it is a shadow, that has turned into a man, turning the proverb “a man, a word” into “a man, a shadow”. The Bible, Faust, Narcissus, Freud and many more influences emulsify in Hans Christian Andersen’s dark fairy tale “The Shadow” that Chilly Gonzales and his long-time friend and cohort Adam Traynor have brought on stage as an amalgamation of a live silent movie and a paper cut come alive. After the premiere at Hamburg’s Kampnagel, it is part of Schauspiel Köln’s repertoire until October. Continue reading →

“I play my own music, so I have a direct line to the composer; I know what his intentions were.” – Gonzales on interpretation

My son and I were fortunate enough to be part of the sold-out Masterclass lecture at the ‘old and modern’ Centre Phi in Montreal on June 2. The Centre Phi lies at the edge of old Montreal just West of McGill St., not far from where Montreal was originally founded. Old Montreal is unique in that a large section of the original city was preserved, despite pressure over the years to make way for modern buildings and roads. It’s an uncharacteristically hot June day, but the walk down shady cobblestone-lined streets is very pleasant – the old buildings still releasing the winter’s chill that was stored deep within their stone walls. Some of the buildings in old Montreal date back to the 1700s (ancient by North American standards) – a time when the Little St. Pierre River met the mighty St. Lawrence River. Old versus new, historical versus modern, the pressures of North American culture flowing beside a bastion of European value. A city situated on the confluence of two cultures seems like the perfect place to host an entertainer who deftly marries old world craftsmanship with new world sensibilities like no other. Continue reading →