Jan-Christoph Gockel

Jan-Christoph Gockel is a theatre and film director and a member of the artistic management of the Münchner Kammerspiele. He combines politics with poetry: in his work, puppets, actors, film, music and documentary material meet. As in-house director, he shapes the image of the Münchner Kammerspiele as a theatre that transcends national and genre borders.

He studied theatre, film and media studies in Frankfurt and directing at the Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts in Berlin and worked at the Schauspielhaus Bochum, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Théâtre National Brussels. His feature films Die Revolution frisst ihre Kinder! (The Revolution Devours Its Children!) (2019) and Coltan-Fieber: Connecting People (2022) were shown at numerous festivals. From 2014 to 2020 he was resident director at the Staatstheater Mainz, from where he came to Munich. Co-productions have taken him to the African continent, where he has, among other things. showed works at the festivals Le Fabrique de fictions in Lomé, Togo and Les Récréâtrales in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

For a long time he has been working with puppet maker and puppeteer Michael Pietsch, with whom he founded the company peaches&rooster and has so far realised five works at the Münchner Kammerspiele.

With his production Wallenstein. Ein Schlachtfest in sieben Gängen (Wallenstein. A Slaughter Feast in Seven Courses) at the Münchner Kammerspiele, he has been invited to the 2026 Theatertreffen.