A mime collective founded in Berlin in 1994, the Flöz Family has been awarded more than fifteen prizes to date. The play Hotel Paradiso, created in 2008, is being performed for the first time in Paris, at the Théâtre Bobino, until February 4.
An honest family run hotel
Hotel Paradiso is a beautiful 4-star hotel perched in the mountains. Run by the wife of the deceased manager and his two children, the hotel has a mineral water source with miraculous virtues. In the lobby of the hotel, which serves as the only décor for the room, the mother tries as best she can to maintain the standing of the establishment, while the son and daughter scramble to know who will take over from their parents. Romantic, nostalgic and in search of love, the son is attached to the place and wishes to keep it without changing his habits and tranquility. Energetic and conquering, the girl tries all means to modify the hotel according to her tastes, always wanting to modernize it. Considered family because of their loyalty, the butcher and the cleaning lady both have a strong character and are the most endearing characters of this hotel whose soul spreads to the last ranks of a conquered public.
From mask to life
The Flöz Family is internationally renowned for its talent for the manufacture and use of masks but also for the mixing of genres . Between the family quarrel and the many adventures that take place within the walls of the hotel, no less than twelve characters parade on stage. Each of the protagonists has his own mask, his own costume, his own posture. Even more expressive than a living being could be, the masks breathe life and soul into the characters. The actors, Anna Kistel or Marina Rodriguez Llorente, Sebastian Kautz, Daniel Matheus and Nicolas Witte, are only four to interpret this multitude of puppets. The use of masks offers them an impressive freedom, which they use with emotion and malice. Hotel Paradiso, like its hotel, is the result of a collective work, both in the writing and in the manufacture of the masks and the staging. The creative force of the Flöz Family and the immense work accomplished is evident in every detail of the performance.
A complete show
Far from excelling only in the art of masking, the Flöz Family draws its originality from the mixture of the arts. Incrobatie, dance, music, illusion, mime and clown rub shoulders and amaze young and old. With so many tools, there is no need for words to bring masks to life. A completely silent piece, Hotel Paradiso does not suffer from the absence of speech, quite the contrary. Every thought of the characters, every silent dialogue and every situation is incredibly clear. With only the gesture and the masks, the actors manage to release a host of feelings. From vaudeville to comic tragedy, the performance goes through a variety of genres that marry each other perfectly to give a result of striking lightness on the difficult subject of the heavy family heritage that is a hotel. Very intrepid and endearing, the inhabitants of this small hotel make the public laugh and move the public without stopping. Poetry and burlesque combine to offer 1h30 of magic.
