Actors add new dimension to guided tours

Professional actors Chris and Judith Cornish are attracting international visitors to Hobart with a new phenomenon in tour-guiding based on strolling theatre.

By developing a professional theatrical approach to guiding, the Cornishes have set themselves apart from other ‘performance guides’.

While there are some who don clothes from a bygone era while delivering a guided tour, the Cornishes add the inimitable skill of established actors.

Judith and Chris re-enact a slice of Australian history using carefully crafted scripts to take their audience on a journey from lighthearted moments to minutes of stark reality – almost literally bringing history to life.

“Our tours are unique, personal and memorable,” said Judith Cornish, who, together with husband Chris, is passionate about staging Tasmanian history.

Live History’s hallmark tour is the dramatisation of ‘Louisa’s Walk.’

Using prose, song and characters from the era, the Cornishes recreate the story of the transportation and imprisonment of female convicts in the infamous ‘Female Factory’, or women’s prison. Woven into the tale is the story of one Irish woman named Louisa Regan.

While the original prison buildings no longer exist, there are walls, remnants and natural backdrops for the Cornishes to use as ‘blank canvases’ for their art.

The tour appeals to both international visitors and Australians – many of them not only inquisitive about Australian heritage, but also fascinated by forms of theatre.

The Cornishes encourage other tour operators to apply a similar technique to help them meet the high-demand audience of the 21st century.

“Visitors are no longer satisfied with traditional guided tours,” said Judith. “They want an interactive experience that they will remember.

“We are all familiar with the difference between reading a history textbook and watching a TV dramatisation. One is dry and difficult to absorb – the other is engaging and memorable.”

To enable other operators to benefit from performance guiding, the Cornishes also offer a consultation service, which trains guides without previous acting experience, and provides the operators with compelling scripts for their tours.

“What we have developed is an entirely new concept within the world of tourism and site interpretation,” said Judith.

“Live History combines the skills of tour guiding with those of acting. The result lifts the guided tour into a new dimension.”

Further information
Live History was declared Tasmania State Winner of the PublicityShip Hidden Jewel Awards for 2007.

For further information on Live History and performance guiding, visit the Live History website or contact:
Judith and Chris Cornish
(03) 6229 8959
0437 276 417
livehistory@hotmail.com

Click on the thumbnails to download high resolution images. These images are to be used only in conjunction with editorial on Louisa’s Walk. Photo credit: Reflective Images