On the huge stage, we move the decor of La Bohème with the help of electric tractors. Six floors below, other sets are dismantled or assembled: at the Opéra Bastille, the work of the stagehands is a spectacle in itself. The highlight of this show: the set itself, capable of going up and down between stage level and the sixth basement to transport a hundred tons of scenery, in less than 12 minutes.
This mobile stage of 400 square meters is multiplied by nine behind the stage and on the sides, with compartments allowing the storage of decorations. A rare thing, it also has a rehearsal room, an exact replica of the stage. From the first seat in the hall to the “distant” (the back of the stage), there are no less than 100 meters, a vision of impressive grandeur that the public rarely sees.
Inaugurated in 1989, the Opéra Bastille, the largest in Europe (2,745 seats), “aims to play three to four shows in complete safety in the same week”, explains to AFP Lionel Morin, head of the machinery of this room, the second of the Paris Opera with the Palais Garnier. A few days before the revival of La Bohème by Puccini (May 2-June 4), his teams are working on setting up the sets. This version of Claus Guth had in 2017 bristled part of the critics and the public by situating the story … in space. A space station weighing nearly 12 tons is pushed into the middle of the stage by stagehands perched on electric tractors. Once acts 1 and 2 are over, the stagehands have, in real time, the 30 minutes of intermission to clear the station backstage and bring back another piece of scenery, a lunar floor. All this thanks to a sophisticated system of motorized carriages, rails and a spinner to rotate the different elements.
Machinists are not alone: “Electricians, lighting technicians, props and dressers are there; we work in communion, “says Michel Foulquier, show manager. We load the friezes – which hide the projectors – and the carriers to raise or lower heavy decorations stored in the hangers, we use telescopic nacelles to quickly mount certain decorations. Bastille, “it’s an anthill, a big factory”, summarizes for AFP Sonia Allienne, machinist for 20 years in the house. On productions where there are rushes (very rapid set changes), “there is no room for error… Everyone knows what they have to do,” she says.
The number of machinists varies between 100 and 120, including 90 holders. “We have an activity from Monday to Sunday, from 8 a.m. to midnight, so we have to cover all these time slots, explains Lionel Morin. There are assigned teams per show, with a minimum of 12 people on the set. Sometimes there are many more, as in the production of Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss, where there were towers to move and which required 40 people. Other times, you have to go very fast, with “a machinery effect every 30 seconds to 1 minute”, says Michel Foulquier.
Alongside the stage team, other stagehands are busy at level -6, 25 meters below the stage, and even a few meters below the level of the Seine. There, a curious mixture of decorations is offered to the eyes. “At the moment, on the set, we have La Bohème which will play alternately with the Maurice Béjart party,” says Lionel Morin. “And at -6, we’re dismantling Nixon in China, we’re editing L’Affaire Makropoulos which will play in September and we’re finishing the editing of Romeo and Juliet”, presented in June. “It’s a great chance,” he says.