Productions

  • © Vera Pulido

Smelling Gossip

Sebastian Mauksch & Team

60 minutes
Theater hall


A performative campfire installation for ages 10+

Around the campfire, the wood crackles. The air smells of smoke, forest, sweetness, and char. Stories are told, guesses are made, imaginations run wild, and tales are passed on. But what is already in the air—and what only comes into being through retelling?
Together, we light an artistic campfire and cook a rumour soup: logs are added to the fire, stick bread and foil-wrapped potatoes drift through the smoke, and scents spread—warm, familiar, and full of anticipation. Stories begin to circulate: small observations, claims, rumours. Some change along the way, others stick.
Amid smoke, sound, and flickering light, a collective rumour takes shape—sentence by sentence, scent by scent. After all, we love passing stories on. But judgments form quickly. What does it take for whispers and murmurs to suddenly become accepted as reality? How quickly can a rumour turn into something that can no longer be undone?
A fireside game about social dynamics, hearsay, exclusion, and community.


Sebastian Mauksch & Team create theatre as a space for shared experience and discovery for children and young people. Combining performance, text, visual arts, sound, and technology, they explore social questions together with their audiences, inviting them to test their own perspectives and ways of acting.

By and with Vera Pulido (performance, sound & stage), Toni Jessen (performance & artistic direction), Sebastian Mauksch (artistic direction), Frida Grubba (costumes), Çiğdem Üçüncü (Outreach & Access-Friend), Fabian Eichner (light), Antigone Akgün (texts), Olivia Stutz (production), Class 6b u. Nicola Ahr (research class, Albert-Gutzmann-Schule)

A production by Sebastian Mauksch & Team in cooperation with Ballhaus Ost. Funded by the Capital Cultural Fund Berlin.

Dates

  • Fri Oct 09, 2026, 10:00 Premiere Schulvorstellung
  • Sat Oct 10, 2026, 19:00
  • Sun Oct 11, 2026, 16:00
  • Mon Oct 12, 2026, 09:00 Performance for school groups
  • Mon Oct 12, 2026, 11:00 Performance for school groups
  • Tue Oct 13, 2026, 09:00 Performance for school groups
  • Tue Oct 13, 2026, 11:00 Performance for school groups
  • Wed Oct 14, 2026, 10:00 Performance for school groups
Tickets

15 | 10 | 6 Euro.
Tickets can be purchased by phone, email, or online. Please note that reservations via email and phone are only possible from Monday to Friday between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. For online tickets, the provider Reservix charges a 10% advance booking fee and a 2 Euro service fee in addition to the basic ticket price. 3-Euro-tickets for holders of a Berlin Pass / Berlin Ticket S are available at the box office only or via karten@ballhausost.de. Reduced tickets are available to schoolchildren, trainees, students, unemployed, pensioners, BFD- and FSJ-workers, colleagues and artists. With Tanzcardthe tickets are reduced by 20% (only at the box office). Disabled persons receive reduced admission and free admission for one accompanying person. For children of all grades, the admission price is 6 Euro.

Language Info

In German spoken language.

Access / Content Note

Accessible for wheelchair users.
Various seating options.
Access friend on site.

Content notes:
The performance includes opportunities for voluntary audience participation. Audience members are invited to gather around the »campfire« and sit on beanbags. Chairs can be provided for those with reduced mobility.
Sensory stimuli:
Fog effects and scent emissions are used during the performance. The lighting is predominantly dark.

Further Information

School performances may also be attended by professional audiences. Tickets are available exclusively at the box office on the day of the performance.