Scha'irlie – This is not a Chaplin

“Scha’irlie – This is not a Chaplin.” is an homage to Charlie Chaplin. It also deals with the history of first- generation Turkish migrant workers.

Charlie Chaplin climbs over a wall and arrives in a city. It is his arrival in an anonymous metropolis, in the divided city of Berlin, in a hopeful future, in a grey futuristic surface full of remarkable characters.

“Scha’irlie – This is not a Chaplin.” by the Turkish choreographer and dancer Kadir “Amigo” Memiş is an homage to his role model Charlie Chaplin. It also deals with the history of first- generation Turkish migrant workers. Just like Chaplin’s tramp, many of them were confronted by issues in Germany such as work immigration, social exclusion, poverty and isolation. The same dreams of wealth and happiness, love and self-realisation inspired many guest workers’ dreams. But just like Chaplin, Kadir Memiş sets socially critical accents with situation comedy and abstraction without dropping into pathos and self-pity.

Scenes at the unemployment office, in the factory and in a boxing match are all references to Chaplin’s films, but could also take place in a different time and in a different reality. Inspired by the early Chaplin’s movement language, but also by the fascination for the works by the surrealist Magritte, Kadir Memiş creates a dance performance that plays with hip hop styles and combines them with contemporary dance. Kadir Memiş but also his alter ego “Amigo” is on stage, as are different facets of little Charlot, Magritte’s man with a bowler or the migrant worker. Hyoung-Min Kim, Luc Reboullet and Patrick “Patrock” von Bardeleben support Memiş and become his adversaries and team mates; they meet in their daily battle for recognition, money, work and the desire for love.

Source : programme booklet

More information : http://kadirmemis.com/