Culture Summer at the Passion Theater Oberammergau – TYLL

The Passion Theater Oberammergau

The Passion Theater Oberammergau is one of Bavaria's world-famous stages: every ten years, the Oberammergau Passion Plays are performed here, which have been among Europe's oldest uninterrupted theatrical traditions since 1634. With around 2000 seats, the venue is one of Germany's largest open-air stages – and in the years between the Passion Plays, it hosts high-caliber drama and music productions.

TYLL – Stückl's Novel Adaptation

In the summer of 2026, Christian Stückl, long-time director of the Passion Plays and artistic director of the Münchner Volkstheater, will stage a new production based on the novel »Tyll« by Daniel Kehlmann. Kehlmann's bestseller (Rowohlt 2017) tells the story of Tyll Ulenspiegel, a dazzling figure of the Thirty Years' War, who travels through a devastated Europe between court, battlefield, and superstition.

Premiere and Performance Schedule 2026

The premiere is scheduled for Friday, June 26, 2026, at 8:00 PM. Further performances follow on June 27 and on July 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, and 25, each at 8:00 PM. The program is complemented by a guest performance from the Münchner Volkstheater with »Der Brandner Kaspar und das Ewig' Leben« (July 3 and 4, 2026, 7:30 PM) and the Heimatsound Festival at the end of July/beginning of August.

Oberammergau – World-Class Alpine Venue

Oberammergau is located in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district in the Ammergau Alps. The village, with around 5400 inhabitants, is world-renowned for its Passion Plays, its painted houses (»Lüftlmalerei«), its woodcarving tradition, and its idyllic alpine scenery. In its combination of Baroque piety, Alpine culture, and theatrical history, it is a place where the language of theater has been at home for centuries.

Theater between Kehlmann and World Theater

With »Tyll«, the Passion Theater continues its tradition of grand productions. Stückl's stage language combines historical world theater with contemporary theatricality – a style that has shaped the Passion Plays in recent decades and places Kehlmann's play in a powerful, Alpine-European context.