Secondary residence: Bregenz, backstage

In the theatre, all objects that are smaller than a piece of furniture are called props. There’s a separate Props department which, together with the Set Building, Costume, Make-up and Scenic Art departments, forms what is collectively known as Set and Decor. In Der Freischütz, Julia Schultheis is currently the master of eagles and stags, rifles and shooting targets. 

The patient is lying on the workbench, but has only a minor complaint. On the Napoleon 1807 flintlock rifle the so-called pan cover, which protects the primer from moisture or spillage before firing, has broken off. A case for the Bregenz Festival Props department. The pan lid is so small that hardly anyone would notice it was missing during a performance of Der Freischütz. But doing nothing is forbidden by professional ethics, says department head Julia Schultheis. So the part is stuck back on with special glue to the replica weapon, non-firing but with moving parts.

Another patient is the eagle that Max shoots out of the sky. A central prop in the opera, it has lost some of its feathers in previous outings. Making the bird look presentable again is one of the team’s routine duties. The amount of repair work needed so far has been very manageable, Julia Schultheis says.

This may partly be due to the fact that there are relatively few props in this production and they tend to be of the robust variety. “It’s mainly weapons,” Schultheis says and starts listing them: “guns, halberds, plus stags and pheasants  – it’s a piece about hunters after all. Plus six maypoles, a few flags, pennants, torches ... two coffins ... and of course the eagle.” That falls from the sky into the water, so the audience is led to believe. In reality, like other movable props, it has to be submerged at an agreed place in the water basin before the performance begins so that a proud Max can hoist it out again to great effect.

And everything that is left lying around or accidentally ends up in the water basin has to be collected and taken care of on the lake stage. That happens around midnight, when the last visitors have left. “If it has been raining, we hang the things on the jetty to dry – if the sun is shining! But generally it’s OK if something gets wet,” Julia Schultheis says, stating a principle of the opera on the lake stage.

The Props department needs three to four people for a Freischütz performance. A total of eight employees are on duty at the present time as props also have to be procured, set up and looked after during performance for the opera at the Festspielhaus, the plays at the Werkstattbühne and for the Opera Studio in the Theater am Kornmarkt. It’s during the rehearsal period that the Props department is at its busiest with a staff of ten. That is when many props are tried out and discarded. “Then we work in two shifts,” Julia Schultheis explains, “and so that the early shift knows what may have been changed before 10 p.m. the night before, we communicate via WhatsApp – or there are lots of notes lying around in the morning.” 

Once the lake production is up and running, the rhythm is different. Only one shift is needed and work in the Props department starts between 3 and 4 pm. In the backstage area, preparations are made for the evening performance and the occasional rifle is repaired as necessary. An unexpected detail: during this time, the Props department also supplies plasters, wound-cleansing spray and sun cream for everyone, as a special backstage medical service only operates during performances. “At around 7 pm we’re able to have lunch,” says the prop manager. “That’s what we really call it.” At 8 pm all the people who have something to do on the lake stage get together for a meeting. There’s hustle and bustle one last time before the imaginary curtain goes up at 9.15 pm. 

“The coolest job ever!” is how the work is summed up by the trained stage designer, who’s here for her fourth season. Why? “Because in Bregenz there’s the lake, the lake stage and the backstage area, which actually becomes our ‘secondary residence’. We live here, we work here. The team spirit we have backstage every year, with the technicians, lighting and sound engineers – it’s incredible how it brings us together. Not least because we’re ‘stuck’ back here together every night. Because when the performance is on, the footbridge to the mainland can only be used in emergencies.” Actually, Julia Schultheis says with a twinkle in her eye, she never wants to go back to an opera house.