Two exceptional books by Livija Kroflin "The Soul in the Object" and "Puppetty Wonders of the World" were promoted today as part of the Novi Sad Theatre Festival. Livija Kroflin is the Croatian theatrologist and professor of the Department of Theater Arts of the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek, where she runs the program for puppetry and teaches courses on the history and aesthetics of puppetry. Saša Latinović PhD and Ivana Mijić Nemet led a conversation about the books.
The book and textbook "Puppetry Wonders of the World" is a follow-up to "The Soul in the Object" from 2020, which was awarded the Demeter Prize. While in the first book, the author found the core of puppetry in the depth and soul of the puppet, in "Puppetry Wonders of the World" it emerges from it and expands to spaces that become places of infinite miracles when meeting the puppet.
The author managed to turn a large amount of representative puppet, theater and other material into an understandable and concise text that approaches the reader intimately, with personal anecdotes, interesting remarks and witty miniatures. With transforming that numerous information, views and attitudes into a superb literary experience, the text gets under the reader's skin.
At the promotion, you could hear that these books, which are written in a receptive language, do not give a definition of a puppet, but that they are the so-called "starters" of puppetry, the basis for those who will fall in love with it and want to learn something more about the art and skill of puppetry .
The author, who describes herself as a "puppeteer", also talked about her experiences gained through her travels with puppets. She shared that puppetry is a very respected and important tradition in some parts of the world. In Asia, for example, people court by playing puppet shows, while puppeteers are highly respected and make a good living from their work. In Taiwan, the main puppeteer lives so well that he drives a Ferrari.
She reminded us that in some parts of the world puppets are treated like people. In India, for example, puppets are inherited, and they are never thrown away, but burned on a pyre – the same way as a burial process for people, or lowered into a boat and let down the water. Unlike the East, Europe is not so burdened by tradition, so different forms of puppetry develop. The topics are the same, only the form is different.
Speaking about puppetry, Kroflin pointed out that puppeteers are special people, going as far to categorise them with biblical "many are called, but few are chosen". Puppetry is chosen. A particularly sensitive and skillful person chooses puppetry.
Sava Stefanović, the Festival's Producer, and Vesna Ždrnja, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Novi Sad, joined the conversation with different experiences and remarks. Once a puppeteer herself, Ms Ždrnja believes that puppetry can return to its former glory if people are educated who would put it back on its feet, present it, first of all to its actors - artists, and then to the audience. Above all, good shows are a way to restore puppetry to its rightful place.
Vesna Ždrnja reminded, among other things, that puppetry art was often a hiding place for freedom of speech, especially in some parts of Europe, where political theater was stifled. Puppetry was able to help there, since, like the theater itself, it was limited.
All the participants of this promotion agreed that only the professionalization and education of new pappeteers could reactivate and revitalize the domestic puppetry scene.
Biography of Livija Kroflin
Assoc. prof. Ph.D. Livija Kroflin was born in Zagreb, where she graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy with a degree in comparative literature and English in 1980, then a master's degree on "Puppetry in Zagreb from 1945 to 1985" and a doctorate on "International Puppet Theater Festival 1968- in 2007 in the context of European puppetry". As a literary translator, she had the status of a freelance artist, then worked as an editor at the Globus Publishing House and at the International Center for Cultural Services in Zagreb, first as the artistic director of PIF, and then as the director of the Center. Since 2007, she has been employed at the Department of Theater Arts of the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek, where she is the head of the puppetry program and teaches courses on the history and aesthetics of puppetry. She participated in writing the curriculum of the Undergraduate University Study of Acting and Puppetry, the Graduate University Study of Theater Arts and the Graduate University Study of Puppet Design and Technology. She designed the curriculum from a series of courses that she is the host and executor of. Prof. Kroflin also teaches at the Postgraduate Specialist Study in Drama Pedagogy at the Teacher Training Faculty of the University of Zagreb and at the University of Slavonski Brod. From 2015 to 2017, she was the head of the Department of Theater Arts. She is the selector of plays for PIF and the initiator and chief editor of the "Lutkanija" and "Velika Lutkanija" libraries. She writes books and articles about puppetry, publishes in the country and abroad, participates in international professional meetings (Budapest, Prague, Subotica, Ljubljana, Moscow, Jakarta, Beijing). She is a member of the international UNIMA Executive Board and the president of the international UNIMA commission "Puppets in Education, Development and Therapy". In 1999, she was awarded The Order of the Croatian Interlace for her special contribution to the development and reputation of the Republic of Croatia and the well-being of its citizens. In 2021, she was awarded the "Zvonko Festini" Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the art of Croatian puppetry, and her first university textbook “The Soul in the Object”, published by the Academy for art and culture, in 2022 received the Demeter Award for annual achievement, which is awarded by the Croatian Society of Theater Critics and Theatrologists.