The Volkstheater in Vienna

In 1977, when I was 19, I did a vacation internship in the field of stage technology. My first task was to participate in the Festspielhaus Bregenz project. I finally started working at Waagner-Biro in 1978 after graduating from an higher technical college. My second project was the Volkstheater, where I participated from the very first minute.

At the time, the stage technology team was very small with only about 8 people. It wasn’t even a separate division but just a sector of the Mechanical Engineering department.

I acted as the right-hand man of the project manager. From the start, the project manager had me accompany him to all meetings and appointments. It was a very exciting time as I was always involved in the proceedings, from the initial drafts right through to the final construction and commissioning. This was extremely instructive and helpful, not least for the current renovation.

At first, we drew on drawing boards with pencils or ink on transparent paper. We had a large reproduction department responsible for duplicating the plans. The blueprints for each plan were produced individually by hand. 

Before starting to draw, it was necessary to pre-visualise the entire concept. Before I took the pencil in my hand, the plan was already finished in my head. You couldn’t just start drawing and, if something didn’t work, just delete it or push it to one side. Once you’d drawn it, there it was on paper. The parts lists were written manually, and we had to calculate the weights using a pocket calculator. 

There were no CAD programmes or anything like that. Our first computers were bought in the 1990s. We even worked in shifts on the first CAD system so that the device could be used around the clock – that’s how expensive it was. There was a CAD workplace in the middle of the office, around which we hung black curtains. Because the quality of the screens wasn’t particularly well-developed yet, it was necessary to do this so that you could discern objects on them properly. Of course, some employees put up resistance to this “newfangled stuff”. In that respect, I started work in the Stone Age of CAD technology. 

For the current rebuild, we relied in part on old plans from the archive, which we remodelled in 3D wherever something new had to be added to the existing construction. This was the case, for example, on the grid deck and the galleries, where we installed new drives and stairs.

It all started with a request for a repair. This gradually developed into a major renovation. At the time, the Volkstheater was completely untouched: Few changes had been made to the original condition of the theatre from 1887, and a lot of it was still made of wood.

For example, objects were brought onstage from the Museumsstraße, where a steep ramp led up from the street onto the stage 3 m above. Scenery was transported by hand from the street onto the stages. This was extremely strenuous.

The payloads in the building were extremely limited. If you look at the roof dome construction from the grid deck, you can see how delicate it is. This is still the original roof construction. The stage technology was actually fastened to this construction – and as you can imagine, it wasn’t possible to place much load on it. The theatre walls, too, were unable to bear loads. This represented the biggest challenge.

For this reason, we installed a steel construction within the theatre which extended right down into the cellar. It had the appearance of a gigantic table on four legs, and all the new stage technology was built on it. This construction is still installed today and represents the basis for the entire stage machinery. During the current rebuild, only the steel support foundations were reinforced, as the required loads had increased again.

Yes, that’s true. At the time, the control technology for controllable drives was still in its infancy, and upper machinery with manually operated flybars was installed. There were only electrical lighting hoists, some heavy load hoists, one curtain and one veil curtain hoist – the rest of the upper machinery was operated by hand using counterweights.

But the highlight of the renovation in the 1980s was the revolving stage. In the original theatre, there was just a wooden revolving stage – operated by hand – which rolled on steel balls approx. 5 cm in size. In 1981, we installed a proper cylindrical revolving stage with a central bearing and two trap elevators. The lower stage still works perfectly and was left almost untouched during the current renovation.

It has been really exciting and interesting to see all the old stage machinery again, and it is astonishing how quickly you remember all the details. I was involved in the 1980s project from the start, and this was a real benefit now, especially during my talks with the local building supervisor and the planners. Because I had already participated in the construction of the stage technology over 40 years ago, I had all the required background information.

Grid decks 

Until 1980, the grid deck in the rear stage was made from wood and was then replaced by a steel construction. However, the problem with this was that it left insufficient space when trying to pull away scenery or the cyclorama. For this reason, the theatre had long dreamed of increasing the height. During the current rebuild, we were able to realise their request, and the entire grid deck was shifted upwards by several metres. On the main stage, the grid deck was located under the roof dome construction, and it was always necessary to climb over the girders of the dome construction. If you wanted to reposition point hoists, these always had to be lifted via the girders. Here, too, the grating was shifted higher, and a rail system was installed for the point hoists. It is now possible to move these into position very easily, meaning that one person can do the job without major effort.

Yes, safety is a central topic. After all, several tonnes of scenery are frequently suspended above actors on the stage. There is no monitoring system on manual drives. The responsibility lies with the operator, and if they make a mistake, there is nothing they can do about it. There’s no emergency OFF switch or anything like that.

Our control systems, on the other hand, feature countless monitoring functions which facilitate operation. The system queries regularly whether there are any problems and alerts you faster accordingly. The overall response times of the control system are, amongst other things, much faster than those on the C⋅A⋅T V4 predecessor version.

What I noticed again during this project is that it is very important to remain in contact with the customer. This is especially when the schedule is tight. We held weekly coordination meetings regarding the construction progress with the local site management, and we addressed any issues openly. No project runs completely smoothly, and you simply have to remain solution-orientated and honest with each other. This honesty is also highly valued by the customers. And if there is a problem on our part, then we put everything in motion in order to solve it.

The regular contact with our customers doesn’t stop after we have handed over the system. This is also the case with the Volkstheater, we increasingly frequently arrange one year of real-time operation and regular user meetings.

This means that the user meetings take place bi-monthly. Lively exchanges are conducted between Waagner-Biro System Systems and the Volkstheater personnel. For example, we discuss any faults which have occurred, things which have functioned well, or possibilities for improvement. This of course provides benefits for both parties: our customers receive rapid solutions and assistance, and we can further develop control systems and planning based directly on everyday working life.