Bernhard Paul was born in Lilienfeld on May 20, 1947 and grew up in Wilhelmsburg (district of St. Pölten). Even as a small boy he was fascinated by the circus, especially the clowns. So a predetermined career path? Not quite. “As a boy from Wilhelmsburg with red hair, freckles and glasses, you can’t go to a circus and say: Hello, I want to be a clown. They’ve never laughed so loud,” Paul told APA in an interview last year.
The solution to the problem? Start a circus yourself. And that’s what Paul did in 1976 with Circus Roncalli, originally together with André Heller. The common path did not last long, however, as the duo did not agree on some artistic questions, which is why Paul continued on his own – with his team, of course.
“I’ve always thought and felt differently”
The early years were not easy, as the cinema documentary “Ein Clown, ein Leben” by Harald Aue, which was released last year, showed. But perseverance and an irrepressible creative will brought Paul, who regularly made people laugh himself as the clown Zippo, in the end success – and what a success it was.
Roncalli is now a world-renowned brand. “We were the first to be plastic-free and animal-free. I replaced the animals with holography. It made the news all over the world,” Paul said proudly. “Guy Laliberté, the founder and director of Cirque du Soleil, said in an interview: Without Roncalli, there would be no Cirque du Soleil. We were the first to do another circus.”
In any case, the attempt to bring an alternative to long-established traditions made an impression. “The Russians did their own programs that paid homage to Roncalli,” says Paul. “We made a guest appearance in Moscow and everyone had their mouths open. At that time they still did the quadruple somersault out of the dome with danger of death and sometimes even death. And we did: soap bubbles! I’ve always thought and felt very differently.”
Back on tour for a few weeks
For Paul, the end of the road has not yet been reached due to the successes. “It’s like the universe – without end, without limits”, he described his striving for ever new ideas and means of expression. “Imagination and creativity knows no bounds. One must never give up, sit down and let oneself be incense. No, it’s always the beginning. Like Cologne Cathedral, it’s never finished either.”
It was always important for him to follow his intuition and not to make any compromises. “I went through the world openly for over 45 years and absorbed everything that came. Of course, I sorted things out in the back of my head: What do I want, what don’t I want.” In the early days, for example, he turned down an offer of sponsorship from McDonald’s. “They wanted the M on the tent.” It was financially very tight back then, “we ate the putty from the windows,” Paul found drastic words. But: “Rejection is very important.”
Of course, Roncalli was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, and two tours had to be canceled. For a few weeks now, however, it has been “free ring” once more. After guest performances in Recklinghausen, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Ludwigsburg, the family of artists will return to Vienna in autumn (September 14 to October 9). Paul has announced the new program as “my very personal homage to art and its great painters, musicians and filmmakers”. So the magic continues.