There is only one move and it will be no sooner than 2021. The fact that everything remains more or less the same means a big relief for the theater management and friends of the bamberger marionette theater. Because up to now it looked as if the theater would have to find accommodation at an interim location for a few years, master two relocations and also still take the audience with it despite the double change of location.
"This is of course very good news for us", says theater director maria sebald. Because now not only can long-term requests from visitor groups be answered at all, but also new artistic productions can be planned. "I am currently researching for the thornroschen, there will be a second marchen for children and families, maybe also a shakespeare-stuck", betrayal sebald. After months of uncertainty, her thanks go not least to christian lange (CSU), the mayor of the city of culture, who had worked hard to find a solution. It was he who gave her the good news. "We are now planning to meet again soon to finalize a few details", says the theater director.
Artful 43 places
"The marionette theater is an important cultural carrier for bamberg and an example for the multilayered theater landscape in our city", says lange. "We are going back to the original plan, I am very happy with this solution, in the medium term in the staub house and in the long term in the old tobacco barn." the decision had been made in the youngest closed session with mayor andreas starke and the city's advisors.
In july 2018, financial officer bertram felix had presented the plans for the new cultural use of the barn on don bosco square, where the raulino tobacco factory once dried and stored its products, to the cultural senate. For years the tobacco barn was one of the problem children of the preservation of historical monuments, but in the future it is to provide a new home for the marionette theater. The designs provide for the stage and an auditorium with 43 seats on the first floor (currently there are 29), the hallway offers exhibition space as well as a surrounding gallery on the mezzanine floor.
First renovate, then move in
Accessibility is to be ensured, among other things, by a handicapped-accessible toilet and an elevator. The marionette theater now has a total of 365 square meters at its disposal, plus a multi-purpose room that can also be used for other cultural events and shared space totaling 280 square meters. According to the city's plans, the renovation, which is expected to cost 2.8 million euros, is to take place in 2020/21. Only after their completion the marionette theater could move in.
But even the now clearly extended farewell of the dust house in the lower sandstrabe does not fall easily. In february, manfred kreidl, second chairman of the "friends of the bamberger marionette theater" association, spoke out in favor of a new cultural use for the barn, the theater should remain where the founder klaus loose established it in 1986.
According to kulturburgermeister lange, however, the purpose of the hospital foundation, which owns the property, is opposed to this. This foundation was to create living space for hospital employees and generate rental income for the operation of a hospital.
The situation is different with the edgar wolf foundation, which owns the tobacco barn and whose purpose is to enable cultural use. Until the first marionettes move there, however, still some time will drag into the country.