Situated in the heart of the Workshops, a stage lift allows the sets to be transported, via the tunnel, to the opera house. It has the same capacity as a shipping container.
Another stage lift, also connected directly to the underground tunnel and located in the opera house, enables the sets to be transported to the Stage. Its load capacity: 13 tonnes!
From the lift down from the Workshops to the lift up to the stage in the Theatre, the total length of the journey taken by the sets under the Workshops, under the administrative building, and under the street is roughly 92 metres.
The lift even held audience members (150 people) during the performances of Push (2019), which took place in the Malibran Room, which is mostly used for rehearsals.
Why the size of a shipping container? That is, in fact, the unit of measurement used for all the sets made at La Monnaie. After they are dismantled, the sets are stored in shipping containers. It must, therefore, be possible to transport them in a stage lift of similar dimensions to those containers (12 m x 2.44 m x 2.59 m).
Dismantling of the sets for Foxie! (five containers), which were then recycled in partnership with different purchasers as part of the Green Opera project.