General meeting of the Society of Historical Theatres of Europe

General meeting of the Society of Historical Theatres of Europe – PERSPECTIV - from 7 November to 9 November in Solothurn and Bellinzona

After a long journey, we reached Solothurn, the capital of the canton of the same name in Switzerland, on November 6, 2024. It is the 11th and the number 11 has a magical meaning in and for the city. It is definitely worth a visit, not only because of the city theatre in the middle of the old town and our conference venue. It is also a historic theater like ours in Putbus and it is part of the southern route.

The lectures in English ranged from "Construction maintenance of historical buildings in times of climate change" (Peter Seibert, head of the construction department of the Bavarian Palace Administration) to "Attempts to save historical theatre sets" (Jirí Bláhá, Czech Republic, restorer and art historian - using the example of Joseph Platzer's Litomys I Castle (1797)) to the question "Sustainable theater - an experiment - a methodology - a network" (Darious Ghavami, University of Lausanne).

The realization of the first day was that every theatre is different, what is good for one does not have to be for the other. There are different internal and external conditions at each location. Nevertheless, you can learn from each other and that is why the personal contacts of the member theaters are very well maintained.

The general meeting also had an official character, a new board was elected. The old and new president of the PERSPECTIV society is the Briton Mark Fox. The German Matthias Wickert is the managing director of the society.

At conferences in theatres, culture can also be a part of it. Mozart's opera "Le Nozze de Figaro" was performed by the in-house ensemble. The performance, which was met with much applause, had both enthusiastic and less enthusiastic audiences. No matter who directs the opera, it will always be Mozart's beautiful music.
We also experienced enthusiastic and less enthusiastic audiences at the performance of a dance piece called "Minotauro" in Bellinzona, the capital of the canton of Ticino. The ensemble of the Teatro Sociale Bellinzona, also a member of the southern route, presented us with its version of the ballad "Minotaurus" by Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

The conclusion of this trip: Only together will we be able to save our historic theateres, both in terms of their structural integrity and as venues. This means continuing to inspire people for our projects and seeking financial means through sponsorship, because public funds are becoming increasingly scarce.

Helga Lawrenz