LENNART SCHILGEN - "Abwesenheitsnotizen. Lieder & Gedichte"

Always being reachable is so last century. Lennart Schilgen is back with his third show - and makes his mark through absence. When he's not performing or picking up cabaret awards (Prix Pantheon, Stuttgarter Besen, and more), he mainly does one thing: disappears. Off on cycling trips, into a monastery, or to a communist summer camp. Or just into the depths of his own thoughts, which is often adventure enough.

What comes out are songs about detours and dead ends - in the world and inside his own head. Light and witty, yet unafraid to venture into darker corners. This time Schilgen digs out things that have been swept under the rug for years: an old PUR cassette, primary school reports, the story of a night-bus stop. Fortunately, he guides the audience safely across every abyss - carried by his accomplished piano and guitar playing, his voice, and a "sharp mind, with heart, humour and sneaky punchlines" (citation for the 'Tuttlinger Krähe' award).

And if all else fails, there are the poems: small linguistic surprise packages, deeply silly and highly crafted. His recently published "Gesammelte Werke" is - if a little self-promotion is permitted here - something of a bestseller by poetry-collection standards.