The Werkstattbühne is a true all-rounder
The Werkstattbühne, an innovative theatre space, is an absolute all-rounder. For anything from a small-scale Christmas party to a big fashion show or fair, it’s a highly versatile space for hosting events. Theatre safety carpenter at Kongresskultur Bregenz, Pascal Baldreich has been responsible for most of the corporate events as well as the bregenz festival performances at the Werkstattbühne over the past five years.
Mr Baldreich, what’s so special about the Werkstattbühne?
It’s the ideal event location. Here we stage events with standing room for 3,000 people but also exclusive celebrations for 200 people, for instance with a room-in-room concept.
What’s a room-in-room concept?
We use the possibility of dividing the Werkstattbühne up into several spaces using trusses and curtains. At one corporate event, for example, curtains were raised – as the programme schedule dictated – to allow people to see and access a particular area. Ideas like that can be implemented at gala dinners, too, where we can have the stage with a show on it as well as a partitioned-off cocktail bar together at one location.
What projects do you remember particularly well?
I remember a sales conference of a business called Blum. To bring the guests together, there wasn’t just a gala dinner, but games too. It all worked brilliantly. From the technical point of view, a special feature was that two moderators flew down from the ceiling simultaneously. Basically the Werkstattbühne has the great advantage that we can transform it very quickly.
The equipment and technology of the Werkstattbühne are one thing, but what else do customers profit from?
They have a motivated team of experts from different fields at their disposal from the first meeting to discuss the concept until after the event has finished. Having a large part of the material already to hand, we don’t face the kind of logistical challenges that other event locations of this size would face. Together with the client, we implement a master plan, bringing it to life at our own location with our own personnel and material. All from one source, without time-consuming and resource-intensive interfaces. And if a client, despite good planning, should want anything else at the last minute, we can supply it mostly unbureaucratically and without great additional expense.
How flexible is the Werkstattbühne?
It can be used in virtually every configuration, especially as its exceptional size creates many possibilities. As a result plenty of options are available for the customer. In a word, it’s a venue that can run the whole gamut.
(tb – pzwei) 29.01.2020
