Thursday 13 August 2015

Stavovské divadlo (Estate Theatre Prague CZ) visit 20 June 2015

One of the oldest European theatres operating continuously since its inauguration. It was constructed in 1781–1783 by the imperial court architect Anton Haffenecker for count Franz Anton Nostitz-Rieneck,
Mozart created two operas for Prague which premiered in this theatre: "Don Giovanni" (1787) and "La Clemenza di Tito" (1791).
This theatre is also on the list of the Perspectiv "Emperor Route"
Since 1920, the Estates Theatre has been the second stage of the National Theatre.

We visited with the Theatre Timeline group of OISTAT.
Pavel Dautovsky, head of lighting, was so kind to show us around, and to point out the different renovations this theatre has had over the recent years.
As this is a working theatre, working under a repertoire system, part of the technology had to be up to date with modern requirements.


The front of house is still in it's former glory, the surprisingly small foyer has a more art deco feel to it, although the chandelier made of Bohemian glass looked a bit sixties.
The mayor renovation in theatre technology were done in the 80ties, including a large revolving stage that runs on a layer of oil.
We've seen the same in the Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin (dating from the same period), but here the understage was surprisingly empty and roomy, leaving enough space to move around small elevators.
The elevators (from Skoda) ran on the same oil pressure system as the revolve.
The main problem repertoire theatres always have is storage room to put all the sets that are on repertoire at that moment.
Instead of expanding the building, they put their storage underground under the square behind the theatre.

Inside are wheeled platforms to store the sets and a track system to sort them out before they fit in the elevator that brings them backstage.

This system dates from the 80ties to.
Getting new sets in the building happens in the same area with an elevator that opens part of the square behind the building.

In my opinion is this a very elegant sollotion for many historic theatres that have lack of space.
Here in the Estate Theatre, they manage to run a busy operation without forgetting he heritage of building.

A last picture: in the basements these semi round woods are stored.

I've only seen them in use in Eastern European theatres, and I wonder is this is a more regional or a wider spread custom.

Theater Duisburg (D) visit 11 March 2015


We were the guest of the DTHG day "regionalgruppe west".
Theater Duisburg is merged together with the Oper Düsseldorf  as Deutsche Oper am Rhein (DOR).
Photos by Ivo Kersmaekers
The building was erected in 1912, but had of course several renovations.
For instance, the foyer is now in the typical 1950s style:


The stage machinery is all from recent date (around the turn of the century)



In the building is still a DC-converter from the 1920s that was used to make DC current for arc lamps, but is still in use to drive precise machines like turntables.
Discussing on operating an arc lamp, the LD of Düsseldorf told us this story:
At the time each lamp had their own technician as the distance between the carbon rods had to be adjusted constantly, as they would be consumed and get shorter by the flame.
According to the older technicians that worked with it, it was not necessary to sit at the spotlight the whole time, but adjust it from time to time.
Asked how much time there was between adjustments, he answered: "about one beer"



Tuesday 11 August 2015

Kačina Palace Theatre (CZ) visit 20 June 2015

On the Emperor Route of Perspectiv, we find the Kačina Palace Theatre.
Kačina Palace, one of the most beautiful Classicist buildings in the Czech Republic, was designed for count Jan Rudolf Chotek by the German architect Ch. F. Schuricht in 1796 and erected in 1806–22, with additional designs by J. P. Jöndl.


The castle theatre is located in a pavilion at the end of the north wing, together with an unfinished castle chapel. The theatre, too, remained incomplete for a long time and was inaugurated only in 1851. It hosted performances of amateur actors from the counts family; Count Rudolf Karel Chotek was also the author of some of the plays. From this period the richly decorated auditorium, part of the stage machinery and some stage decorations have been preserved.
The audience room is rather stuffy and cramped with strange proportions
the parterre is very undeep (only 6 or 7 rows), but with it's 2 balconies it's very high.
Surprisingly enough, the sightlines from the top balcony are not that bad.
Everywhere, but certainly on the ceiling you can see wonderfull decorations.
A lot of trompe l'oeil is used to make fake cornices etc.
Parts of a set were still on stage, but I'm not sure they fit together as they should.
On the middle backdrop, you see very nice perspective painting, depicting a ceiling.
The low understage was equipped with machinery to move the wings.
Here you see the wings in their slots:
Behind every set of slots was hole reinforced with metal.
It is tough this was the hole to hold the pen of a lighting boom.



The understage was not accessible, but we managed to take a few pictures trough a hatch:

The grid is equipped with pulleys under the grid.
The tower is quite high, I guess about 10 m, so it must be hard to maintain.
At the sides we can see guides for the counterweights.
The thing that brought tears to our eyes was the condition of the stock of the painted backdrops.
At the time it was not possible to unroll any of them, but they are clearly in need of some restauration.
In the restaurant across the street the wildest plans were made to safe this theatre and its sets from deterioration.
We found out the building is actually owned be the Ministry of Agriculture, and it seams it will not be easy to get access there.

Practical info:
According to the Perspectiv website:
Zámecké divadlo ∙ Zámek Kačina ∙ Svatý Mikuláš 51 ∙ 284 01 Svatý Mikuláš ∙ Czech Republic
Tel.: +420 327 571 170, +420 602 187 700 ∙ E-mail:nzm.kacina@nzm.cz ∙ www.nzm.cz

Visits: guided tours Tue–Sun 09:00–16:00 (May–Sept); Sat–Sun 09:00–16:00 or on appointment

(April & Oct); on appointment only (Nov–March, min. 10 visitors)

We were on tour organised by the OISTAT Timeline Group, so we arrived there on appointment.

The castle is rather out of the way in the countryside.
Access by public transport will be complicated.