Consciousness, Literature and the Arts

 

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Volume 12 Number 3, December 2011

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THE BORNHOLM REVUE

produced by Bornholm’s Theatre at Rønne Theater, 2011

 

“Learn wisdom from the show of life” is the guidance

imparted across the proscenium arch at Rønne Theater

(built in 1823) and that’s what happens at this packed-to-the-rafters

revue as we laugh and snigger our way through skits and songs

that make us think back on the past year: Bornhom’s near-catastrophic

encounter with snow and a miserably handled case

of fraudulent science; what happens when self-love psychology

goes bad and a person has to seek couple’s therapy to regain trust

in herself; and Denmark’s involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

- the Vikings are back!  Cathartic laughter – we are not superior to the jokes

we have been laughing at ourselves, this sure-footed cast makes it clear

we’re in this together, their satire stings in scenes on the politics

of daily gossip (“not that it’s any on my business”) whether you’re Bornholmer

or from off-island

 

my father who spent his national service on this Baltic island

(not long after the Russians had added many more ruins

to the ones left by the Germans) is in the best mood I’ve seen him

since my mother died last year.  He and my mother took their last vacation

on Bornholm.  Now he’s getting weaker, though his cancer is growing

slowly, and his legs won’t carry him sturdily. He has resisted

a walker till now, but recognizes coming down steep stairs

from the balcony and then walking to the car that the time

has possibly come and then we talk some more about gossiping

Bornholmers (“not that it’s any of my business”) whose dialect he loves to try

to imitate but can’t - neither can I.  His attempts, though, more than mine

make for the better show. Because he laughs in memory

 

P.K. Brask