Workshops

• • September 2026, Lisbon, Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema (ESTC), organized by Teatro Nacional São Carlos.
  • June 2027, Prague PQ-27
  • June 2029, Berlin, WSD-2

Organised by Teatro Nacional Dona Maria II (the theatre being in restoration) we had a workshop in the Sala Estúdio Valentim de Barros. During former workshops the question was often raised: can we also make movements with wagons on crossing tracks? Here we introduced a solution for the first time: a lift system mounted on a carriage that crosses the mounted rails, driven from the backstage by a horizontal cassette and core system. However, the distance bridged is limited to the length of the core. Next time, we will experiment with a telescopic cassette and core system to bridge greater distances.

In January we started a workshop organized by Teatro Nacional São João. The National Theatre itself being in restoration, the workshop took place at Teatro Carlos Alberto. During this workshop, we introduced a degrading drum in 3 parts. Combined it can be used as a classical degrading drum but it can also be disengaged into 3 separate drums.

Starting on 22 April we had 2 consecutive 5-day workshops at DAMU in Prague, ending with a public masterclass and demonstration day on 3 May. The long time collected workshop materials don’t fit anymore in my Citroen Berlingo, so they had to be transported to Prague in a rented van.

TheatrEurope has therefore decided to leave the workshop materials on loan in Prague so that the technology can be incorporated into the DAMU curriculum, with the idea that DAMU would organize international workshops during every upcoming Prague Quadrennial.

Future workshops in other European places should also include to have to make the used technology.

Finally also ATPS (Association de Technicien·ne·s Professionnel·le·s du Spectacle), in cooperation with Théâtre National, could organise in Brussels a 5-day workshop for the French-speaking colleagues in Belgium, in Studio of the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, a performance space with a playing area of 16m wide and 12m deep. This workshop was supported by “FONDS 304, information, formation et accompagnement des métiers du spectacle” for lifelong learning.

On 3 December this workshop ended with a public presentation. Unfortunately, it was also a period when started a new COVID variant that apparently put off the public, as besides the 12 participants of the workshop only about thirty persons showed up.

In September 2020 we could finally collect our workshop materials abandoned in Sevilla in March 2020. From 5 to 7 January 2021 we had a workshop for 5 theatre technicians in the Arenberg Theatre in Antwerp, Belgium. This was the first workshop on a more theatre professional playing area of 12 to 8 meter. We were able to do the degrading drum exercise on a floor of down folded stage elements forming an area of 10 to 3 meter. New guiding rails had to be made for it and the rigging had to bridge a 17cm height difference between stage elements and stage floor. This workshop was done “Corona-proof” and without a public presentation.