Ready, Set, Juggle: Hippana Maleta’s Runners at Schauspiel Köln
For the Cologne circus scene, it is a special evening: for the first time, contemporary circus is being shown at Schauspiel Köln. As part of Zeit für Zirkus 2025, on November 14 and 15, the Cologne-based company Hippana Maleta presented its piece Runners, receiving a standing ovation. In Germany, contemporary circus has long sought greater visibility and access to professional stages. Venues like Schauspiel Köln, a central institution in Cologne’s performing arts landscape, offer crucial opportunities to bring circus to theatre audiences and show how it can resonate on established stages. While in Germany the genre is still often associated with only traditional or variety formats, the contemporary scene has expanded significantly in recent years.
Two men enter the stage in colourful Adidas jackets, relaxed black pants, white sneakers, and each holding a water bottle. They reach the front, taking positions as if at the starting line of a race. It promises to be athletic. At the centre, musician Moisés Mas García sits on his cajón, waiting. Slowly, he lifts a hand, stretching the gesture, tension building, drawing the gesture out until it becomes almost unbearable. Then, at last, the beat falls—and the two jugglers collapse to the floor, as if the ground has been pulled from beneath them. The ice is broken; the audience laughs, myself included.
Jugglers Jonas Schiffauer and Alex Allison face each other, their feet perched on the edges of two treadmills positioned left and right on the stage. Behind them, at the centre, stands multi-instrumentalist Moisés Mas García at the mixing desk. Tension hangs in the air. Dramatic, almost like an old Western, Jonas and Alex close their colourful jackets one after the other, presenting their ambition with a hint of self-irony.
A high-pitched “peep” cuts through the silence. The treadmills begin to move, slowly at first, then faster, louder, soon alarmingly swift. Jonas stretches a hand toward the DJ’s desk, his gaze locked on Alex. The response comes immediately: a white juggling ball arcs through the air. Schiffauer catches it mid-leap, landing directly on the treadmill—and the race begins.
In their dynamic, Jonas Schiffauer and Alex Allison recall the classic comic duo Laurel and Hardy. Together with Moisés Mas García, who not only operates the mixing desk but also interacts with the jugglers and objects on stage, even stepping onto the treadmill with his saxophone, they embody a humorous and teasing interplay.
But the serious moments are also part of the action. What had just resembled children sitting under a treadmill with their legs stretched out, stacking towers of balls, suddenly shifts in the next moment into an image reminiscent of two factory workers at an assembly line.
With Runners, Hippana Maleta presents a piece that captivates from the very first moment, combining choreographed dialogues of ball juggling, attention to detail, precisely timed comedy, impressive musicianship, and gentle self-irony. By the end of the evening, the audience rises in applause, celebrating the energy, precision, and imagination of the three artists.
This article is part of the German project ZirkusBlog, which took place during the Zeit für Zirkus 2025 edition in Cologne. The coverage of Zeit für Zirkus - Zeit zum Reden, organised by the BUZZ - Federal Association of Contemporary Circus, is sponsored by the Performing Arts Fund and the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne. The original German texts were published on ZirkusPlus and on the festival website.
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