Smooth transition from Der Freischütz to La traviata

On Sunday evening, Der Freischütz will be performed for the last time on the lake stage at Bregenz. Shortly afterwards the elaborate set will be dismantled. Not demolished – no wrecker’s ball will swing, simply flattening what has been so carefully designed and painstakingly constructed. Things are done differently on the Bregenz lake stage: gently, step by step, according to plan. 

“On Tuesday at the latest we’ll begin to remove the loudspeakers, detach the spotlights and pull out the cables. Borrowed equipment, especially in the lighting, will be sent back. Reusable items will be saved, before the chainsaws and power tools arrive on the scene, so that the remainder can be taken apart and disposed of,” explains Wolfgang Urstadt, Technical Director of the Bregenz Festival. The process involves 50 to 60 people in total. The dismantling of the stage set will be completed by the end of October.

As they work, the technical personnel have a clear picture in mind of what will be needed for the set of La traviata, the opera on the lake stage in 2026/27: “For the moment we’re fully focused on the dismantling, but of course we are at the same time putting things in place for La traviata – it’s a smooth transition.”

All rounder
As technical director, Wolfgang Urstadt, 59, is above all an organiser. He coordinates at the various internal and external interfaces, is in charge of health and safety – on what is a challenging stage – and keeps an eye on the budgets. With affable frankness he admits: “When it gets highly technical, concerning details of sound technology for instance, then the relevant departments are the specialists.” Originally a carpenter by trade, Urstadt, who comes from Hesse in Germany, was quick to move into the theatre. “To be honest, it was too cold for me on building sites in winter. Theatres are heated,” he says with a laugh.

Farewell ritual
When the curtain goes down on Der Freischütz on 17 August, it’s not only the five and a half week long Bregenz Festival that comes to an end. On that day another lake stage production finishes – a project that was planned and worked on for several years. Does that make a technical director feel at all wistful? “It’s true, it’s a funny feeling every time. I’ve made myself a little ritual for that. When the final performance of a lake stage opera is over and all the audience members have left, I stay sitting there in the viewing arena alone in the night for a while, and say goodbye. After all, it’s not just loads of work that has gone into a project like this, but so much heart and soul, too – from everyone of us,” says Urstadt.


(tb)