Royal Opera Stockholm (SE) visit 5 June 2015

The Royal Opera is a neo-classicist theatre from 1898, build at the place of the original opera house, build by Gustav III.

The building across the present opera building used to mirror the first venue, giving you an idea of how it was earlier.

It is in this opera house Gustav III was killed, later made into the opera “Un Ballo in Maschera” by Verdi.

 At the time we were invited to look at the renovation of all the under and upper stage machinery (by Bosch Rexroth), as well as the renewed lighting equipment.

It was of course very impressing to see the newest thing of technology implemented in an historic building, but we also had the chance to join a "historic tour", conducted by a former member of the ballet.

The man was an impressive raconteur, taking us trough the building, telling anecdote after anecdote.

.The Tours can be booked as a public tour trough the box office of the opera house.
If all guides are as good as ours was, I can recommend it fully!

Gripsholm Palace Theatre (SE) visit 6 June 2015

In Grimpsholm castle in Mariefred we find King Gustavs III private theatre.

Court theatres are often found in strange places, and this one is located in one of the towers.

The original design quickly proved to small, so the tower itself was enlarged to host a bigger theatre.

The king's private palace theatre was completed in 1781. It was designed cleanly inspired on Palladio's Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy. 

Gripsholm Palace Theatre has been preserved in its entirety since the last recorded performance in 1785. 

 Located in it's position in the tower, the theatre has a peculiar cross section.

 The stage set displayed on stage today is the one used when the play "Drottning Christina"

 The upper machinery is on an enchanting complexity and poetry

 Again, here the understage machinery is impressive, and can, thanks to the windows, being admired at daylight.

At the time, it must have been possible to work there in daylight to, something a lot of present day theatre technicians will envy.

 Sometimes people ask what the the attraction of ancient theatre technology is.
Often one of the attraction is the pure aestatic beauty of the machines.

We visited the theatre in the company of the eminent theatre historian Iain Mackintosh.

He took the opportunity to regale us on a monologue dating from the era the theatre was in use.

The theatre can be visited daily, including a good view of the 18th century stage machinery below the stage.

The site is also accessible by boat from Stockholm (a very nice trip) and the village of Mariefred is also worth a visit.

Confidencen (SE) visit 5 June 2015

Confidencen or The Court Theatre at Ulriksdal Palace features the oldest original theatre interior in Sweden, designed 1753 by the theatre architect Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz. The building itself had originally been constructed as riding stables in the 1670’s

It's rather hard to find but in beautifull surroudings.

The public area is relatively sober, but elegant.

Of course the most impressive here is again the changing of the sets using the baroque machinery.

Two sets were installed at the time we visited.

The wonderful part here is that the machinery and is completely new built, based on old plans an a lot of research:

There is no real understage: the stage is built on the floor of the hall, and the approx. 120 cm height of the stage is used to hide the machinery in.

Also on stage everything looks new and smells as fresh wood.

A strange experince when you're used to old, dusty theatres.

A special feature of the venue is the "confidensen room" where the king could have confidential talks.

In order to do that, it was possible to open a "stagetrap" in the floor, and rize a table that was pre set in the cellar.

That way, they were not disturbed by servant going in and out.

Apart from the dining table, it's also possible to raise 2 smaller side tables to presenr dessert on.

The nice thing is, everything is done with the same technology as used in the theater

Across the street is e very good restaurant called Ulriksdals Wärdshus.

Rather expensive, but beautiful surroundings.

National Theatre Belgrado (RS) visit 23 September 2015

The National Theatre in Belgrade, was opened in 1869, in the Serbian capital Belgrade,  After WW II, the theatre was reconstructed in 1964/65, but the stage and facade remained unchanged. Final reconstruction was made 1986-1989.

There are performances of Drama, Ballet and Opera.

Thanks to S.Cen (the Serbian OISTAT center) I was well received by mr. Milan Markovic, the technical director.

Compared to the footprint of the building, the hall is relatively small, with only about 500 seats.

 This also reflects in the size of the foyer, that where busts of famous Serbian artists can be seen:

At the time of visit, the stage was empty, preparing for a visiting performance of the BITEF festival.

This way you can see clearly the strange proportions of the stage, with a stage opening of 9 m (7 m high), the total stage is 32 m deep.

 Behind and connected to the stage, is a big warehouse where the sets of the repertoire are waiting.
With a loading dock all the way at the back, connected to the back street.

The understage and upperstage machinery were constructed by Svetlost Teater in the 80s.
They are still in perfect working order, also thanks to good maintenance.
30 years is not that old, but in terms of theatre technology, there still an antique feel on it.

As said, the theatre houses the national drama company, the opera and the ballet.
Apart from the big stage, they also have a smaller, 200 seat black box theatre under the same roof.
To meet it looked like a practical venue to work in.

So it's a big house, with a lot of people working there.
Inside are also 2 pubs.
We tried them out both..

Drottningholms Slottsteater (SE) visit 5 June 2015

Does this theatre need an introduction!?
Built at the request of Queen Lovisa Ulrika !t was completed in 1766.
It’s the mother of all historic theatres in the world, being hidden for many years.
In 1792 the theatre was closed. And it stayed closed for 130 years, until it was rediscovered in the 1920’s. 
After a first visit in 2005 and the reading of many books on the subject, I was happy to come back here, this time invited by the STTF/ Svensk Teaterteknisk Förening

Invitations like this always have the advantage that you’re able to see more than is shown on a regular tourist tour, and have the chance to ask more questions to the the local specialists and architect.

The most facinating part of the theatre is the extensiveness of the machinery: wings, elevators, borders, lights, everything is rigged so it can be moved an d switched in one single movement.

This is the main capstan to change the wings.

It must be the only vertical capstan I've ever see, as they are mostly lying down.

4 wings can be prepared at once to interchange, you do have to change the ropes from one chariot to another if you use more than 2 wing sets.

Due to the vertical capstan, it's also necessary to splice the rope for each wing.

Basically you only lead 4 ropes to the capstan: stage left in and out and stage right in and out.

Each rope is spliced to the number of wings on each side:

None of the systems are counter weighted, but when we tried to do the scene change of the wings our selves, we didn't need that much muscle.

Same thing goes for the elevators.

We didn't try that with a person it, but that seems much harder.

This capstan is in horizontal position.

In the under stage, there are similar system to rise the flood lights an to turn the wing lights, but the upper stage machinery is equally impressive.

Here an horizontal capstan controls the borders.

To my understanding, this capstan can also be turned from the understage.

In the front is a big thunder cabinet and they have also a working set of clouds for the deus ex machina.

Quite impressive in size!

A special gem, hidden in the French garden of the castle is the Leaf Theatre.

This is an open air theatre, dating from the same era as the court theatre.

Here the wings are formed by hedges, positioned like the wings of the baroque theatre.

This is what the stage looks like with a bunch of people in it:

And this is the view from the stage towards the audience area:

Best way to reach Drottningholm is by boat from the center of Stockholm.
The boatride takes about an hour, and the boat can also take you back.