Actor Nemanja Oliverić is a grandfather in the play "Heidi". The story that caresses every childhood was performed by the "Boško Buha" Theater, and it earned a touching applause from numerous children in the audience.
When did parents stop telling stories to their children?
They didn't stop. I am a parent, they didn't stop. Stories are the best thing you can convey to children, the best thing you can do with children. And it's even better if you make up your own stories and let children be creative also. That way they can learn what a story is, how it starts, that it has elaboration, a plot and an ending. If they learn some lessons from it, then that's the real thing. I believe that real parents have not stopped telling stories.
What topics are important when it comes to children coming to your theater?
We had a period when we rushed to entertain the children, and it seems to me that this is not the right way. I think that children like emotions, they like to feel something, and "Heidi" is the play that brought that back to our theater. It is the right story for them, and the right story is the one that touches them, with which they identify and learn from it, no matter if it is happy or sad - because sometimes sadness is healing. There should also be sadness in the theater so that children can experience it, think about it, and be prepared for it in life. It is also important for them to know the difference between sadness and happiness, and to fight for their happiness.
We often tend to hide behind time, the system, the time we live in, justifying excuses why we don't spend more meaningful time with children... Is there some common denominator around which we should gather and unite?
There is, of course. It has always existed. It's love. It is the starting point of everything, including life, and we know how life begins. There must be love that grows into a kind of responsibility towards another person, children, partner... A child who feels love, who has love and receives love, is happy to give and share it, because he knows what love is. A child who doesn't have love is looking for it. Now, there are different ways to find it. It can also be aggression, the need to be in the center of attention, but that's where we have to work, to react appropriately and there are no excuses. We have to create a core of love in families and outside of them. Everything is a matter of keeping the conversation open and reaching agreement, understanding and tolerance.