What does it mean to be a tourist?

 

Where did this word come from? Has tourism always been with us? This need to travel? To roam? What does it mean for a place to become a tourism destination? How is the place we visit transformed? Do locals remember our journeys? What is their experience of us while we visit? What becomes of them once we return home? And what would all of us do if suddenly, we lived in a world without tourism?

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During the Summer of 2023, playwright Kevin Doyle (IE/US) tried to answer these questions (and more) by going “undercover” as a tourist on Bornholm. He thought he was returning to Bornholm for a vacation, but instead Bornholms Teater put Doyle back to work.

 

Doyle's job description? To research and explore the history of Bornholm tourism from both perspectives -- his encounters with local residents, and his adventures with fellow tourists. Doyle has developed a new performance for interdisciplinary theatre that mixes film, photographs, interviews, music, and historical archives, to create an illuminating and entertaining exploration of a tourism destination frequented by so many Danes and international visitors, and shed new insights on a tourism industry that so many Bornholmers depend on for their livelihoods.

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This project was created in dialogue with the staff at Bornholms Teater and is based upon interviews and interactions with actual tourists and residents of Bornholm, Denmark.

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Performance, Film & Photography by Kevin Doyle

Directed by Jens Svane Boutrup

Production Manager & Sound Designer - Johannes Dam

Visuals / Scenemester / Afvikling - Michael Bøndrum

Lighting Designer - Joar Cirkola

Dramaturgical Assistant - Laura Jespersen

Set / Stage Construction Team - Lars Funk, Simon Sandbye, Johannes Dam

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Voice Actors (via pre-recorded audio) - Lars Funk (Dansk), Laura Jespersen (Dansk), Jens Svane Boutrup (Dansk), Eva Pae (Svenska + Deutsch)

 

Video Actors (via pre-recorded video projection) - Anna Rasmussen (Dansk), Elin Køneke Krusell Hølgaard (Dansk), Eva Pae (Svenska), Kevin Doyle (English)

 

Interview Film - Bent Boesen (author of De bornholmske jernbaner: Driftshistorien)

 

Produced by Bornholms Teater (DK).

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STOR tak til Bornholms Ø-arkiv for hjælp til research omkring turismens historie og fotos.

Tak til Brødrene E., S. & A. Larsens Legat og Sparekassen Bornholms Fond for støtte til projektet.

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[Presented primarily in English and Danish.]

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For tickets and more information, please visit Bornholms Teater here:

https://bornholmsteater.dk/

https://bornholmsteater.dk/da/kalender/2024/2/14840/turist

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