Stadsschouwburg

Respectful renovation of landmark auditorium

The renovation of the stage rigging system in the large auditorium of the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam was a very welcome opportunity to make drastic improvements to the fly tower. And those improvements were much needed.
The fire safety screen was replaced with a rolling fibreglass curtain. This not only improved safety, but also takes up less space, which means one can reduce the distance between performers and the audience.
The grid deck was changed from a highly dangerous spiderweb of steel cables into a totally safe cable-free floor space.
The side galleries were made narrower, which created space for longer fly lines and even side fly lines. Longer lines enable more effective blocking, or reducing views of the wings through the use of curtains. Previously, that was a problem. It was so bad, in fact, that the walls had been painted black. That could be changed after the renovation. The beautiful brick walls in the fly loft were sprayed clean and made the stage a much nicer space.

Project