Arkin University of Creative Arts and Design (ARUCAD) Acting Department hosted the seminar “On Tourism Play” on May 18, 2026.
The seminar featured actor, theatre director, and playwright Tiago Correia and explored the relationship between performance and tourism through themes such as cultural representation, urban transformation, audience experience, and contemporary theatre practices. The session focused on Correia’s play “Tourism,” examining dramaturgy, character construction, staging processes, and contemporary tragedy.
During the seminar, Correia discussed how witnessing the rapid transformation of the city of Porto through tourism influenced his writing process. He reflected on the effects of low-cost tourism policies on urban life and the growing fear of displacement experienced by local communities. According to Correia, the play emerged from a desire to make visible the social and economic consequences of tourism-driven urban transformation.
Throughout the event, students had the opportunity to ask Tiago Correia questions they had developed through their analysis of both the play text and the 2020 production staged by the theatre company Aturma. Topics such as the decision to identify characters through descriptions like “the woman” or “the policeman” instead of names, issues of identity and belonging, staging choices, and the use of cinematographic language in contemporary theatre were discussed in depth.
The seminar also addressed themes including collective memory, urban politics, migration, economic transformation, and the commodification of human relationships. Correia emphasised that the open-ended structure of the play was a deliberate choice intended to invite audiences to reflect and make their own interpretations.
The event concluded with a Q&A session between the students and the speaker.
The seminar featured actor, theatre director, and playwright Tiago Correia and explored the relationship between performance and tourism through themes such as cultural representation, urban transformation, audience experience, and contemporary theatre practices. The session focused on Correia’s play “Tourism,” examining dramaturgy, character construction, staging processes, and contemporary tragedy.
During the seminar, Correia discussed how witnessing the rapid transformation of the city of Porto through tourism influenced his writing process. He reflected on the effects of low-cost tourism policies on urban life and the growing fear of displacement experienced by local communities. According to Correia, the play emerged from a desire to make visible the social and economic consequences of tourism-driven urban transformation.
Throughout the event, students had the opportunity to ask Tiago Correia questions they had developed through their analysis of both the play text and the 2020 production staged by the theatre company Aturma. Topics such as the decision to identify characters through descriptions like “the woman” or “the policeman” instead of names, issues of identity and belonging, staging choices, and the use of cinematographic language in contemporary theatre were discussed in depth.
The seminar also addressed themes including collective memory, urban politics, migration, economic transformation, and the commodification of human relationships. Correia emphasised that the open-ended structure of the play was a deliberate choice intended to invite audiences to reflect and make their own interpretations.
The event concluded with a Q&A session between the students and the speaker.