BODECKER & NEANDER

ALEXANDER NEANDER - WOLFRAM VON BODECKER

DIRECTED BY LIONEL MENARD


In Germany mime is deeply entwined with Marcel Marceau, the French theatre hero who created the tragicomic clown, Bip. In Europe, particularly in the 1970s, performances by Marceau and Samy Molcho proved that mime was not a theatrical form to be easily dismissed. Back in 1909, theatrical genius and co-founder of the modern "director's theatre" Max Reinhardt also relinquished the spoken word in his sensory theatre experiments.

 

Bodecker & Neander have been producing their work for over 20 years, during which time they have captivated audiences and the press in more than 35 countries. Schwerin-born illusionist Wolfram von Bodecker and Paris-born Alexander Neander met whilst studying under Marcel Marceau in Paris. They graduated from his legendary school then toured the world as his stage partners before forming their own company. Their exceptional brand of visual theatre is packed with magic, the finest humour and illusion. 'Mime' is derived from the Greek pantomimus meaning 'imitator of all'. Bodecker & Neander use the term 'visual theatre' to describe their work: Silent theatre brought to life by a deft combination of mime and movement, masque, clownery, slapstick and physical theatre that also integrates elements of film, magic lantern and black box theatre.

No wonder their work ignores the boundaries of theatrical genre. The stories are joyous and enjoyable, thought-provoking and tragic. Mime makes room for the viewer's own interpretations - openings awaken the imagination.

 

With their visual theatre, Bodecker & Neander carry the audience to the country of their desires, to utopia. Two travellers between these worlds prove to be faithful guides who guarantee all sorts of theatrical, earnest adventure. We meet a world-famous pianist who has much to learn from the man turning the pages of his musical score. A simple music lesson turns into a nightmare. An Asian fairytale shows us a world where death and beauty sit side-by-side. Follow Light was developed using a grant and premiered at Dresden's Societaetstheater. Press reception was rapturous: "... mime at its best. The audience at the premier were so excited they went wild in the interval - clapping and stamping their feet. And again at the end. Justifiably so." (SZ)

 

Text: Reiner Ernst Ohle

Translated by: Cora Chalmers-Owen


VISUAL THEATER

Déjà-vu?, Wolfram von Bodecker, Alexander Neander, Bodecker Neander, Lionel Ménard

DÉJÀ-VU?

HEREINGESCHNEIT

CITY LIGHTS


FOLLOW LIGHT

WE USE

OUT OF THE BLUE


VISUAL CONCERT - WITH LIVE MUSIC

MONSIEUR SATIE

CELLO CINEMA


VISUAL CONCERT - WITH ORCHESTRAS



TEAM

Foto: © Kasia Chmura-Cegiełkowska

Wolfram von Bodecker (*1969,Schwerin)

Born in Schwerin (Germany), Bodecker initially studied the art of magic with professional magicians and toured with his own magic show. In 1992 he moved to France and completed practical training at the prestigious international mime school “Ecole Internationale de Mimo-drame de Paris, Marcel Marceau“. After receiving a rarely awarded diploma in 1995, he was engaged by Marcel Marceau for the theatre productions "Un soir à l´Eden", "Le Manteau", "Le Chapeau Melon" and "Les Contes Fantastiques", touring world-wide with the master of pantomime.

Foto: © Kasia Chmura-Cegiełkowska, Alexander Neander

Alexander Neander (*1970, Paris)

Born in Paris and raised in Stuttgart, Neander started taking mime theatre classes at the age of twelve. He furthered his studies with specialized training in “Commedia dell´arte“ and “black light theatre”. He also graduated from the “Ecole Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris, Marcel Marceau“. He has been a member of the Compagnie Marcel Marceau since 1995 and has been working with his “maestro” as a personal assistant on stage and during his soloist world tours.


Lionel Menard

Lionel Ménard – Director

“In May 1968 I was scarcely a month old. My first plays played out between the line of my schoolbooks without words, without music, only pictures separating the world of dictations from the world of calculations. These interim spaces were freedom. Not insistent stories but windows between twenty-six mistakes in a dictation and nine eights are eighty. Forty years later I feel that I made a career from this.”

WEBSITE - Lionel Ménard

Irene Fas Fita

Lina Rohde - Assistent (*1990, Hamburg) 

 

 

first recognized through tango in 2010 that the passion of her prospective music studies in the subject clarinet did not correspond so much to expressing herself physically. Through dance she discovered the facets of possibilities and finally came to the theatre.

She studied physical theater / mime at "Die Etage" in Berlin and completed her training there in 2016.

Since then she has been on stage with various projects and theater companies and is, among other things, the founder of the duo "Perpetuum Mobile".

Werner Wallner, Techniker

David Scholz– Lightning

David moved to the Schaubude Berlin in September 2017 to be trained as an event technician with the team around Jens Angermann and Werner Wallner. During the time on site, he was involved in the technical implementation of the figure and object theater. An annual highlight was the development of productions for the international festival "Theater der Dinge". After successfully completing his training and despite the outbreak of the pandemic at the beginning of 2020, he managed to work as a freelancer and was incorporated into the productions of the Bodecker & Neander company. Since October 2020 he has been supporting the company with his knowledge of sound and lighting technology and was able to premiere the piece "Meine Gute" in May 2021.



WE USE


The Team: Alexander Neander - Wolfram von Bodecker - Lionel Ménard,

Wolfram von Bodecker and Alexander Neander founded the Théâtre Mimo Magique in 1996, after graduating from Marcel Marceau's “Ecole Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris”. Since 2006 they have been working under the name of “COMPAGNIE BODECKER & NEANDER”. Their first play, SILENCE wins the Berlin Audience Award and the next production, OUT OF THE BLUE is a real success with both the public and with the press. The two artists invent the concept of the “Visual Concert”: during combined performances with large musical ensembles, such as the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, the Arditti Quartet of London and the Gewandhaus-Oktett of Leipzig; the audience discovers a new and fascinating combination of pantomime and music. Many international tours have led the Compagnie Bodecker & Neander to travel through Europe, Asia, South America, and North America.

Thanks to the universal dimension of their visual theatre, the two mime artists appear to be particularly welcome guest at international festivals. With the assistance of director Lionel Ménard, the company performs the musical play BONJOUR, MONSIEUR SATIE !, a unique and imaginary creation based upon the music of the French composer Erik Satie, a true tribute to his life and his work. The play has been supported by the Konzerthaus Berlin, featuring regularly in the institution's program. In November 2007, the musical play TULLES ET SON OMBRE is premiered at the Philhamonie Luxembourg.

 

Wolfram von Bodecker and Alexander Neander, accompanied by the ensemble United Instruments of Lucilin, tell the story of the young Tulles in a poetic and colorful way to the music of contemporary composer Martin Matalon. By popular demand the company followed up their successful classic, SILENCE; with the new and innovative play DEJA-VU?, which premiered in Dresden in February 2009.



2015

Guest performances in Sweden. “CelloCinema” and “Pulcinella Suite” go on tour.  

New project featuring works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy created with the 

Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra.


2014

Premiere of the program "Hereingeschneit" ("Snowed In") in Dresden.  Summer 

Academy at the Warsaw Mime Center, guest performance at the International Mime 

Art Festival Warsaw.  Tour with Quadro Nuevo as part of the Festspiele 

Mecklenburg Vorpommern.  Guest performances in Finland.


2013

Premiere in Dresden: in cooperation with the Societaetstheater, the program 

"Follow Light! Träume zu Mitnehmen" (“Follow Light! Dreams to Go”) is created, 

followed by performances of the new program throughout Germany. 


2012

"The Don Quixote Family" makes guest performances in Vienna and Graz as well as 

in the Philharmonie in Cologne and at the Cité de la Musique in Paris. More tours to 

Poland, Finland, Macedonia, Holland and Ecuador. Together with the WDR 

Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, a visual concert of Stravinsky's “Pulicinella Suite” is 

created.


2011

Premiere of "The Don Quixote Family" at the Philharmonie Luxembourg, 

commissioned by ECHO- the European Concert Hall Organisation, directed by Lionel 

Menard and with compositions by and featuring the cellist Elisabeth Naske. 

Performances of ¡silence! and “Out Of The Blue” bring the duo to Finland, the 

Netherlands and Turkey.


2010

The Circus Theater Dresden engages Neander and von Bodecker for the lead roles in 

"Faust Without Words", directed by Tom Quaas and Lionel Ménard.  Both press and 

audience praise this world premiere with enthusiasm.


2009

Tour with ¡silence! in the cities of Mexico and Argentina. Appearances at theater 

festivals in Finland and Poland.


2008

Four tours bring the Compagnie to Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Argentina and 

Venezuela. The highlight of the tour is a performance in the Teatro Teresa Carreño, 

which, with seating for 2,500 spectators, is the largest theater in Latin America.  

“Tulles and his Shadow” makes a guest performance at De Doelen in Rotterdam and 

at the Opera of Lille in France. “Out Of The Blue” is performed for the first time in 

Finland.


2007

“Out Of The Blue” tours Argentina and Peru.  Premiere of the visual concert 

“CelloCinema” with Eckart Runge from the Artemis Quartet and Jacques Ammon. 

Working together with the Luxembourg Ensemble LUCILIN, “Tulles and his 

Shadow”, a visual concert for children, is created. Premiere at the Philharmonie 

Luxembourg.


2006

Out Of The Blue plays at the Goetheanum in Dornach and at the Fringe Festival in 

Recklinghausen. Guest appearance of “Bonjour, Monsieur Satie!” at the 

Philharmonie Luxembourg, with six sold out peformances.


2005

The Konzerthaus Berlin commissions Neander and von Bodecker to create a visual 

homage to Erik Satie. Under the direction of Lionel Ménard, the musical pantomime 

“Bonjour, Monsieur Satie!” celebrates its premiere in January 2005 and since then 

has been a regular part of the playbill.

“Out Of The Blue” goes on tour to Luxembourg and Warsaw and debuts in Paris in 

the prestigious Théâtre le Ranelagh.

Neander and von Bodecker are once again stage partners with Marcel Marceau on 

his two-month tour of Germany.  The duo look back upon this time fondly, as it was 

the last tour with their master.


2004

Neander and von Bodecker act as Marcel Marceau's assistants during his tour of 

Germany.  “Out Of The Blue” tours Switzerland


2002 -2003

Bodecker & Neander take over the visual creation of a theatrical fashion show for 

the Belgian designer Pascale Kervan entitled “Il Mimoda” at the Cirque Royal in 

Brussels. Special guest is Marcel Marceau.

Tour to China for International Art Festival with ¡silence!.  United States debut of “In 

the Upper Room” by Philip Glass, together with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra.

In cooperation with the North-West German Philharmonie, a new visual concert, “La 

Découverte”, based on Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 3, is created.  Tour of Germany.


2001

Creation and premiere of “Out Of The Blue” in the Academy of Arts in Berlin, 

directed by Lionel Ménard. Tour to the United Kingdom, Venezuela and Germany. 

More tours with the Compagnie Marcel Marceau.


2000

ECLAT - the Festival of New Music - commissions Bodecker & Neander to create 

theater performances set to music by eight contemporary composers. With the 

London-based Arditti Quartet and the New Vocal Soloists in Stuttgart the works are 

produced and directed by Lionel Ménard. “L'Etoile Filante” is premiered at the 

Theater Stuttgart. Philip Glass arranges his music “In The Upper Room” for the 

Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and pantomime theater. With this, the third visual 

concert “Romeo and Romeo” is produced. Performances at the Mercedes Forum 

Stuttgart, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and at EXPO2000 in Hanover.


1999

In cooperation with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Octet, the “Concert Visuel en Françaix”, 

homage to the French composer Jean Françaix, is premiered. This new genre is a 

great success at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and the Semperoper in Dresden. 

¡Silence! wins the Audience Award at the Berlin Mime Festival and goes on tour to 

Venezuela.


1998

Tours with Marcel Marceau through Japan, Great Britain and Taiwan. Initial 

concepts for a "visual concert" develop.


1997

¡Silence! tours through Belgium and Germany. Marcel Marceau engages v. Bodecker 

and Neander for his new mime drama “Le Chapeau Melon”, which is world 

premiered in Munich's Prince Regent Theatre. Two-month guest appearance at the 

Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris.


1996

The duo’s work together begins on a luxury liner. Among the diverse impressions 

include numerous foreign countries.



PICURES











VIDEO ON DEMAND

You want to watch and enjoy our performance "Snowed in" at home in your living room, then click on the large picture and you will be redirected to our VIDEO ON DEMAND page at Vimeo. There you can rent the video for a week or buy it as a download. 

We hope you enjoy our winter program.

 

subtitles: English, French, Spanish, German


Kontact/Booking

Alexander Neander

Wolfram von Bodecker

post(ät)bodecker-neander.com

OFFICE: +49 30 679 21 460

Compagnie Bodecker & Neander

Käthe-Niederkirchner-Strasse 17

10407 Berlin, GERMANY

OFFICE: +49 30 679 21 460

FAX: +49 321 224 42400

Steuernummer: 31/453/62986

Bezirksamt Berlin Prenzlauer Berg



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