Jan-Christoph Gockel has been a director at the Kammerspiele since 2020. A conversation about the enthusiasm for the revolution, the Munich audience who enjoys discussion and the question: why do you actually make art?
Jan-Christoph Gockel comes from the rehearsal for the new piece, he could use a coffee now. But you want to see the dolls first. All right, he says, go down the steps to the workshop where the wooden character actors are lined up and hanging from strings. “We moved here bag and baggage,” says the director, taking off his knitted hat and wiping the sawdust off the chair. He has been part of the artistic management team at the Munich Kammerspiele since spring 2020. With him came the puppet maker and player Michael Pietsch and around 200 of his creations. The two have been working together for years. When Gockel talks about his work, he usually talks about us instead of me, always meaning the whole team.