The theatre
After more than two years of work, on 19th October 2007, el Teatro de la Laboral opened its doors, thus becoming one of the most modern in all northern Spain, especially as regards its virtual sound system.
El Teatro de la Laboral is now a multi-purpose space with numerous possibilities as a result of having overcome its initial limitations by adding a series of adjoining units that serve as auxiliary halls and services and support outbuildings. The theatre has thus been converted into an auditorium to which, given the 1,405 seats of its main hall, its auxiliary halls must be added giving rise to a total seating capacity of 1,952 making the La Laboral coliseum an ideal forum for conferences, meetings and all types of social and cultural events.
Since its opening, the stage arts have made their presence felt in La Ciudad de la Cultura by means of the artistic programme put together under the direction of Mateo Feijóo: a programme that is committed to contemporary creation. Artistes and companies such as Baldo Martínez, Rui Horta, Les Ballets C. de la B, Tom Zé and Cesc Gelabert, among others, have brought their diverse ideas to the different spaces available at the City of Culture.
El Teatro de la Laboral offers a somewhat unorthodox artistic programme that brings together exhibition, co-production and production. It meets the demands and aims of contemporary creation; it brings together artists from different backgrounds and disciplines; it involves institutions and structures from other countries in creative projects and takes on productions and co-productions that explore new languages, facilitate the coming together of different perspectives and the joint work of established artists and new ones coming through. The exhibition programme is the most visible part, but it is not the whole story.
The project directed by Mateo Feijóo interrelates different work programmes, such as the creation aid programme – both from co-production, as well as from the residence perspective – and the training programme, through workshops and cultural mediation. El Teatro de la Laboral is just another piece of Laboral Ciudad de la Cultura. Opened in October 2007, it hosts numerous shows, conferences, business seminars and exhibitions. The main hall with its 1,405 seats, the stage box, the theatre’s auxiliary rooms, the rehearsal rooms and the magnificent Hall of Paintings are all different settings open to a great variety of proposals.
El Teatro de la Laboral es una pieza más de la Ciudad de la Cultura. Inaugurado en octubre de 2007, es sede de numerosos espectáculos, congresos, jornadas empresariales y exposiciones. La sala principal con 1.405 localidades, la caja escénica, las salas auxiliares del Teatro, las salas de ensayos o la Sala de Pinturas son escenarios diferentes para una gran variedad de propuestas.
