Egnsteatret wishes to approach and be close to each and every individual audience member.
We create performances that are emotionally moving for the audience. Our performances send the audiences on sensual, poetic, and challenging journeys in physical and mental spaces, where transformative encounters between people take place.
The performers do not act or play any roles but – they are simply themselves and serve as gentle guides who introduce the challenges to the audience and lead them through carefully designed situations. This invites presence and exchange between the audience members, and between the audience and performers. By means of our unique theatre practise of audience participation – human specific performance – we wish that every audience member is seen and spoken to. Therefore, there is usually a maximum of 30-40 audience members – or rather participants – per performance.
Egnsteatret rarely creates performances for the traditional theatre space. We often move into the surrounding world and develop performances for places where you least expect to find theatre.
Our Reumert – winning performance, Hidden Number, takes place in many different locations in a city, any city in which it is performed. The audience travel in groups of four in large American cars to unexpected places where a performer awaits them and invites them into a sensuous universe. Each venue unfolds a different scene which is both, a stage of the journey and a distinct experience on its own each time with active participation of the audience. The richness of this performance universe and the participation of audience ensure that there can never be two participants who have identical experience nor can there be two groups that go on the same journey.
Our performances are based on the active involvement of each participant, therefore the name: human specific performance.
International Regional Theatre
Egnsteatret has been the regional theatre in Vordingborg Municipality since 1990. Visionary people from the municipality’s cultural committee and the city’s theatre association were looking for a potential regional theatre at the time because the city had a large beautiful theatre hall. They spot Egnsteatret, who at the time resides in Copenhagen, with the very physical and experimental performances, two of which have passed Vordingborg on tour: The Castle of Passion and the Women of War.
In 1990, the first regional theatre agreement will be signed, and in 2020, when Egnsteatret will celebrate its 30th anniversary as regional theatre, the new contract for 2021-2024 has just been signed. In it, one reads: “Egnsteatret creates new encounters between performing arts and people. The Regional Theatre works at a high international level with performing arts that have human proximity and local anchorage in Vordingborg Municipality and the rest of the world. Egnsteatret contributes to the development of the performing arts in the local area with activities that are directly related to the main task of the regional theatre: to produce two professional performing arts performances annually. In addition to its own theatre production, Egnsteatret’s activities include festivals, presentation of guest performances by other companies, touring, children’s and youth activities, teaching and development activities”.
In addition to Denmark, the touring company has included Germany, Italy, Russia, Scotland and the Middle East. And efforts in the area of children and young people’s activities have been strengthened in recent years, including with a four-year education project in the municipality’s schools, supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education: World Class. In 2017, Egnsteatret established Sensory Works – for children and young people who produce and tour with performances for children of different age groups and families.
WAVES Festival – International Performing Arts
Since 1991, Egnsteatret has every second year organized the extensive festival that presents international performing arts in Vordingborg: WAVES Festival.
The intention of the festival has from the beginning been to bring performing arts of the highest quality into the city’s public spaces and bring the big world to Vordingborg.
WAVES Festival presents around 60 performances in a six-day programme with the latest in comedy, acrobatics, dance, new circus and performance, both indoors and outdoors and at schools in the region.
In addition, the festival includes a special program WAVES Xtra for Danish and international theatre professionals with artist talks, workshops, seminars and debates on performing arts, which gives the many participants ample opportunity to create and develop professional networks.
The latest WAVES Festival (2019) was visited by more than 23,000 spectators from both near and far. The next WAVES Festival, which is the 16th in a row, will take place from 22-28 August 2021.
