After water damage: Theater Bautzen resumes operations

About ten days after suffering major water damage, the Deutsch-Sorbisches Volkstheater Bautzen has resumed operations. Performances are due to resume next Friday, the theater announced. Last week, the sprinkler system suddenly triggered during maintenance work. Around 6,000 liters of extinguishing water poured over the stage, the orchestra pit and other rooms. Operations have now resumed in a limited form for the time being, the statement continued.

The operational safety of the technical systems for the main stage has been largely restored. Numerous repairs have been completed, but temporary arrangements are still being made in some cases. "Our colleagues and the specialist companies involved have done a tremendous job," said Artistic Director Lutz Hillmann.

The full extent of the damage is still not clear, said Gabriele Suschke, spokeswoman for the Volkstheater. Expensive spotlight systems had been damaged and were being repaired. It is still unclear whether the entire stage floor will have to be replaced due to the formation of waves. "At the moment, we are assuming a six-figure sum for the damage," says Suschke. However, more precise information would have to be provided by experts.

Until recently, no power supply on the stage

The theater had rented equipment from appropriate companies. Some of the stage technology could have been revived. "We had no power on stage until yesterday," continued spokeswoman Suschke. The technology is safe to operate. However, further failures cannot be completely ruled out due to the still unclear extent of the damage. "If something fails again, then we'll just have to look again."

Water damage caused by sprinkler systems in the theater is not an isolated incident: there was a similar case in Bautzen back in 2009. In 2016, the small house of the Staatsschauspiel in Dresden was hit. At that time, around 40,000 liters poured over the stage. In autumn 2022, the Gerhart Hauptmann Theater in Görlitz was hit. Following a fault in the fire alarm system, the deluge system on the large stage of the historic theater building also came on. Within a few minutes, the entire stage area was flooded with around 28,000 liters of water, causing millions of euros worth of damage.