Petrus Bertschinger
We are deeply saddened that our colleague Petrus Bertschinger has died following a very short illness.
Petrus was a long-standing member of the Central community from his time as a student in the 1980s to his most recent role as Senior Lecturer in Technical and Production Management. As a Lecturer, he worked with staff and students across the School. We are only starting to come to terms with what his loss will mean. He will be sorely missed. We send our heartfelt condolences to his family.
Petrus graduated from Central in 1984 and had 32 years professional experience as stage manager, production manager and theatre consultant. This included: Production Manager for Matthew Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures, Technical Director of the Covent Garden Festival, and ten years with Unicorn Theatre for Children first as Production Manager and then as Planning and Operations Manager. He oversaw client liaison with the design team for the new Unicorn Theatre, and spent four years with Theatre Projects Consultants as project manager for RWCMD, Conference Centre Dublin and the Beacon Theatre in Greenock. Alongside his teaching at Central, he continued to be a freelance production manager and theatre consultant.
Many members of the Central community will wish to add their own tributes to Petrus and we will add these here or on our Facebook page as they are available.
“All of us at Central are deeply shocked and saddened at the news of Petrus’ death. He was greatly admired for his skill as a theatre technician and teacher, and much loved as a colleague and friend.”
-Professor Gavin Henderson, Principal
“Petrus lived and breathed Central. He loved this place and the people here, just as he was loved by us. Petrus was student here back in the 1980s and he was so proud to return to Central to work with us as Senior Lecturer, Technical and Production Management. His career in theatre has been incredibly rich and he brought a wealth of experience to the BA Theatre practice course and more widely. He will be missed terribly by all of us here at Central.”
-Peter Maccoy, Senior Lecture in Theatre Production and Course Leader, Stage Management
“As soon as Petrus joined the Faculty full-time he began to make an impact. Aside from leading the Technical and Production Management Course, part of his role was to coordinate joint undergraduate public productions, which he did with aplomb, and with plenty of new ideas. Having just completed an MA in Theatre Consultancy at Warwick to cap years of experience in that field, he also contributed invaluably to the planning of our forthcoming building. Having worked as production manager at the Unicorn he was also very keen to extend his professional advice and experience to Drama, Applied Theatre and Education students. I am devastated that someone with such breadth of vision should be taken from us so soon. I know, however, that his students, graduates, colleagues and vast network of professional contacts will ensure this work carries on in the way he would have wanted.”
-Professor Ross Brown, Dean of School and Professor of Sound