Talented young Woodworkers

Bregenz, 30.3.23. Normally things proceed at a leisurely pace on Friday afternoons; for many working people the bell has already sounded for the weekend. Not so in the woodwork studio of the Bregenz Festival, which on a Friday afternoon in March is full of hustle and bustle and the sound of youngsters busy with tools and talking in a lively way. With its varied and fun programme the Young People’s Festival allows children and teenagers to immerse themselves in the exciting world of the Bregenz Festival. Don’t just listen but get creatively involved, that’s the motto.

Twelve girls and boys from the Rieden secondary school are hard at work measuring, marking out shapes, sawing and drilling. Under the direction of joiners Jürgen Bahl and Shantira Kosol and lighting technician Matthias Zuggal, the teens are assembling 18 cubes that will later be part of the stage scenery of a theatre show they have developed by themselves. At the beginning of the afternoon the twelves kids split into three groups. Two groups mark the spots for drilling and then screw the sides together. High-precision work is called for here, and every right angle needs to be right.

The third group is responsible for the top sides of the cubes. They are sawing various shapes with the aid of templates. The specialist craftspeople from the Bregenz Festival are astonished in some cases how well the youngters can handle the portable electric drill and the saws. “There’s a couple of talented woodworkers hiding in the group,” says festival joiner Jürgen Bahl, his eyes twinkling.

The art of painting
Two weeks later, all the cubes are assembled and almost ready. They just need to have to the top side fitted and then to be painted. Most of the schoolkids are at work on the tops, drawing and cutting out shapes in them. Jürgen Bahl watches this group Argus-eyed, to make sure none of them injure themselves. Meanwhile the festival’s scene painter Robert Grammel introduces three of them to the art of painting.

At the end, before the show is staged in June, there will be a workshop offering insights into sound and lighting technology.

The schoolchildren are gaining experience in stage technology as part of a MINT project sponsored by the municipality of Bregenz in cooperation with the Bregenz Festival and the Landestheater Vorarlberg. Under the guidance of a drama teacher, they are creating a production of their own  which will be performed at the Festspielhaus in June. MINT is an acronym that stands for Mathematics, Informatics, Natural Science and Technology.

(lk)