Markus Pabst – Director

Born in Germany in 1967, Markus Pabst is considered the single most innovative director of live Variety shows in Germany and has been widely acknowledged as one of the foremost developers of physical talent in Europe.

His remarkable blend of experience in traditional theatre, film, dance and physical creations has seen Markus single-handedly radically impact and modernise the German variety scene. His exciting shows have received critical acclaim as well as international awards, and the German press have even called him the Tarantino of Variety.

His trademark is his courage to be creatively innovative and weave together different, apparently opposite styles. This talent was convincingly demonstrated with his 1994 debut creation Karussell der Körper (Carousel of the Body). At this mammoth event he had 350 artists performing on six floating stages on the Binnenalster River in Hamburg. 160,000 people watched spectacular helicopter acts, a human mobile and breathtaking pyrotechnic displays.

His other shows include “Vivace” ,which played on Broadway; various productions for Witzigmann Palazzo, Flic Flac Circus, “Liaison der Sinne”; “100%”;  “Chaos Royal”, “Fatale de Luxe” and “A Midsummer-nights Tree”, the acrobatic leaf-canopied fantasy which was first performed in Germany in 2002 and sold out every ticket for its Edinburgh Fringe debut in August 2006.

He directed several incarnations of the subsequently Olivier Award-winning cabaret variety show “La Clique”, including the debut 2004 and then 2005 versions which introduced the world to, amongst others, the Caesar Twins, David O’mer, Tomasz and Yulia Pikhtina. These incarnations of the show became such smash-hit successes in Edinburgh and Brighton and Australia that it also spawned a run in New York and started off what has almost become an international franchise. Amongst other acts, he created the La Clique signature piece of aerial acrobatics over a bath by former gymnast David Omer (this act was featured on 2004’s Royal Variety Performance.)

Markus began working with the Caesar Twins in their circus days and was their only source of external support during the dark days of twin Pablo’s near-fatal accident. Since then they have often teamed together and are at the cutting edge of theatrical invention – doing for acrobatics what Stomp did for drumming. In August 2005, they premiered not only the twin’s first hour-long acrobatic variety show but their first-ever show in English, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The season sold out. This show, Caesar Twins & Friends, lead to the twins being invited to appear on 2005’s ITV Royal Variety Performance (watched by more than 10 million) and subsequently evolved into a 90 minute version, called simply Caesar Twins. This premiered in London West End in a season at the Comedy Theatre in January 2006, made a triumphant return at the Edinburgh Fringe in August and went on to play 5 months in Berlin’s Chameleon Theatre before touring to Singapore, the Brighton Festival and Holland in 2007.

His smash-hit bath-based concept acrobatic and variety show SOAP opened in Berlin in February 2007 and sold out every performance for 18 months before touring. SOAP reopened in May 2009 for another extended season with a new cast performing new acts created by Markus. In March 2010 SOAP transferred to London for a month and is set to make its Edinburgh Fringe premiere in August.

In 2007, alongside the Caesar Twins, he opened a new training school for teenagers with elite acrobatic variety potential called BASE BERLIN -  the first intake of 7 initial scholarship winners were immediately snapped up for contracted seasons all over Germany upon graduation and all have been in non-stop top-end variete employment since.

In 2008 Markus created a new show for Berlin’s Wintergarden “Hotel California” as well as another new acrobatic variety show “Made in Germany”. He was also part of the highly successful return to the Edinburgh fringe by the Caesar Twins, one of the biggest selling shows.

2009 saw him also begin work on his latest concept show – “Versus” – which made its premiere at Berlin’s Chamaeleon Theatre in March 2010 for an initial 12 month run and a second, all-star acro-variety production starring a number of artists from BASE called “Made In Berlin” which is currently also running in an extended season at Berlin’s Wintergarden Theatre.

Along with multi-award winning UK choreographer Tamsin Fitzgerald (2FacedDance), Markus has developed a new concept show of world class acrobatics and high-end dance called BOX/CUBE (w/t). This show will premiere in Germany in 2010/11.

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