A spring clean for the lake stage

Cleaning the basin
A big pump truck crosses the plaza in front of the Festspielhaus heading for the lakeside stage. It has come to suck out the sludge that has collected in the deepest parts of the basin – as the submerged forward section of the stage is called. Before this giant water basin, which can hold just under 500,000 litres of Lake Constance water, can be refilled for the rehearsals and performances of the Bregenz Freischütz, it has to be thoroughly cleaned. “Over winter, quite a lot of mud has collected in the up to two and a half metre deep parts of the basin. That sludge, which has a certain weight, can only be pumped out while the water level of Lake Constance is as low as it is now. Otherwise the water pressure from underneath would destroy the wooden construction,” says Manfred Achberger, who is in charge of health and safety on the lake stage. Starting in June, when there will be daily rehearsals and dozens of performers will be acting in the basin, the water will be filtered and changed three times a day, as it was last summer.

Dismantling the ice
There are deceptively real-looking ice floes in the forward part of the stage for Der Freischütz and stunt people skate on them during performances. At the moment, however, only the wooden flooring can be seen, because stagehand Oliver Gerstenbrand has removed the sections of acrylic glass and polycarbonate that make up the ice floes. Now the wooden flooring has been exposed, the scene painters can get to work: the painted wood under the sheets of ice has become discolored during the winter months and will be freshly painted in the weeks to come.

“The winter did the buildings good”
Even in summer, when the festival is underway, the Freischütz stage is supposed to make the spectators shiver with cold. To ensure the ice, frost and snow remain realistic at high temperatures, stagehands are painting over small cracks and filling the larger ones with putty. Centimetre by centimetre, all 680 square metres of stage surface are being restored. “Our inspection revealed that the moon has some cracks in it, too, and some of the shingles on the church tower need to be replaced. On the other hand, only a little work is required on the buildings – the winter did them good! The weathering has given them a nice, natural patina,” scene painter Kathrin Kobinger says with a grin.

Der Freischütz premieres on 17 July
The viewing area being open to the public, a good number of people have been coming to look round in the fine spring weather; they watch the scene painters and stagehands at work, the loudspeakers being fitted and the fire tests being carried out. Come summer, everything must be working perfectly again. Returning to the Bregenz lake stage for its second run, Der Freischütz will be performed 27 times in 2025, and opens on 17 July. Approximately 192,000 tickets have gone on sale (incl. dress rehearsal and Young People’s Night), some 60 percent of which have already been booked.

(ec/bk)