Winter break and looking ahead to the new year

Dear visitors to Gessnerallee, dear culture enthusiasts, dear artists

Almost five months under new management and three and a half months of the 2024/25 season programme are now behind us. We can look back on an intensive, fantastic and successful time. If you’d also like to review this time, you can find all the weekly letters published here. This will give you an in-depth insight into what has happened and what we’ve experienced.

In a nutshell: We have consistently had a full house, happy artists and organisers, and an enthusiastic audience. As this cannot be taken for granted, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for everything: for the many visits, the excitement, the curiosity, the humour, the praise, and the criticism.

To ensure that we can continue to be there for you in the new year full of energy, we will be taking a winter break from 23 December to 5 January.

We look forward to your return visits and give you a preview of the programme for January:

Preview on the programme

9 to 12 January

‘Tourist Trap’ by Thom Luz & Ensemble

We begin with the new musical theatre work by Thom Luz & Ensemble: in the withered ruins of a once buzzing tourist magnet five forgotten employees wait for customers and resurrect the old splendour of the place from rubble and leftover instruments. Since, as in real life, if you can no longer create an illusion, you're finished. An evening full of poetry, humour and fog awaits you. To the tickets

11 January

‘KAFi Q - Winter Edition’ by KAFi Q

At KAFi Q, people with and without disabilities come together to make art, perform magic and dance. The KAFi is open to everyone. There is a menu that you won't find anywhere else. KAFi Q is an inclusive team that has been working together since 2022. They create unexpected spaces for encounters and explore how accessibility can be conceived aesthetically. More information about KAFi Q

15 and 16 January

‘COLD’ by Fatima Moumouni & Laurin Buser

Due to its great success the poetic and humorous new spoken word show against indifference by the duo Moumouni & Buser will be shown again at Gessnerallee. You can expect a wild word trip through a politically heated atmosphere, melting poles and social coldness. To the tickets

22 to 25 January

‘Ich bin Pinguin’ by Leute wie die

Without a spoken word deaf actress Pia Katharina Jendreizik and hearing puppeteer Andreas Pfaffenberger tell a story about differences in friendship and family. At the beginning, there are two eggs in an Antarctic snowstorm. A penguin hatches from one and another bird from the other. Together they experience many adventures. A play for ages 4 and up. To the tickets

Newspaper

For the time spent on the sofa and the time between the years, we have put together a few of our favourite reading pieces from our newspaper: ‘Das Theater war das Leben, das Leben war Theater’, Transrealitäten im Theater, Den Jungen fehlt die Bühne, Aesthetics of Access - Exploring Artistic Accessibility and Der Lesbian Gaze und der Blick als Einladung. All other articles published online can be found here.

Furthermore

Who do you think needs more Gessnerallee in their life? Are you still missing a present for the festive season?

If you can answer yes to one of these, we recommend buying a voucher or a Gessnerallee season pass, which you can order directly at kasse@gessnerallee.ch.

And if you know someone who is less keen on going to the theatre but enjoys good cultural stories, then we recommend a subscription to our printed newspaper, which is published four times a season. You can order it for CHF 20 (excl. postage) at zeitung@gessnerallee.ch.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and look forward to welcoming you back in January.

The Gessnerallee team

PS: Kids in Dance is currently looking for young people interested in dance. Do you like dancing and would you like to spend the two weeks of the sports holidays at the Gessnerallee? Yes, no, yes you do! Then join the next dance project organised by Kids in Dance. Together we will dance, improvise and develop a piece on the theme of ‘Fragments’. No previous dance experience is required. More information