 Nemorino's Karlsruhe Travelogues | | | |
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| Page Views: 3,261 Last Visit to Karlsruhe: July, 2004 I Visit Here Frequently | Behind the scenes in Karlsruhe by Nemorino - last update: May 12, 2005 |
| Here's where they paint the stage backdrops |
One of the best backstage theater tours I've ever taken was the one at the Baden State Theater in Karlsruhe at their Open House on July 4, 2004. |
| Theater tour in Karlsruhe |
At Karlsruhe they started a new tour group every ten minutes or so, and said right at the start that they would follow the yellow arrows posted throughout the building, so anyone who wanted to stay longer at a particular place could just stay there and join the next group that came through.
The tour guides were people from all departments, including a stage inspector, a guy from the lighting department and a veteran of the spoken drama section -- all people who knew their way around the building and the organization extremely well. |
The first stop was the stage in the large hall, where they were starting to put up the set for that evening’s performance. But they took the time to give us a ride on the revolving stage and show us the control board used by the stage manager (Inspizent) to make sure everything happened at the right time.
We also got a demonstration of how sound effects are created by computer, from the head of the sound department. |
. . Here off to the side of the stage is part of the set of Boito's Mefistofele, including one of the big white bookcases. They'll be rolled out onto the stage later. |
| Workshop at the theater in Karlsruhe |
. . And we saw the various workshops where the sets and costumes are made, and the large room where the backdrops are painted. |
| Workshop at the theater in Karlsruhe |
. . They seem to have every conceivable kind of workshop, including carpentry, metalwork and a shoemaker's. |
. They have two rehearsal stages.
On rehearsal stage number 1 the theater youth group was practicing, using all the great improvisation-in-drama techniques that I thought went out of style decades ago. |
. In rehearsal stage #2 nothing was going on, but this is what it looks like, with a piano to accompany the singers and a table for the stage director.
For more backstage views from other German opera houses, have a look at my travelogues Behind the scenes in Leipzig and Frankfurt Theater Festival 2004. |
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 Comments for Nemorino about Karlsruhe | | | | |
freddie18 Sun Aug 23, 2009 05:09 UTC
Very informative and full of history is your Karlsruhe page. Well written tips Don. I enjoyed reading. Will be back. | scottishvisitor Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:32 UTC
Enjoyed your updated page Don :) Nice to see VT meets in all seasons! | alancollins Fri Jun 26, 2009 07:19 UTC
I have been looking at Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden for a future trip, as recent airfares have been very low recently. | nicolaitan Thu Sep 25, 2008 17:51 UTC
such an interesting page - see why all you guys have regular VT meetings here. And any museum with 400 cat pictures is certainly my type of museum. Seems every city in Europe has so many museums and cultural sites, enviable. N. |
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