Young critic about "The Diary of Anne Frank"

I really liked the play, because the actors and dancers performed it very well. Every move was great! While I was watching the play, I had the feeling that I was Ana. The actors conveyed so strongly the emotions and events that affected the Frank family. Since I don't like war movies, I thought I wouldn't like a war-themed play either, but in "The Diary of Anne Frank" nothing terrible is shown on stage, yet it is perfectly clear that time was terrible for Anne, her family and the Jews. I recommend this play to everyone, because I learned a lot and everyone should know about the unfortunate fate of the little girl Anna.
Nina Klabučar (member of the Drama Studio of the Youth Theatre)



Theatrical view: Anna and her diary

Symbolically, the evening before the Victory Day, the day when Nazi Germany signed the capitulation in World War II, the dance performance The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by Renata Vidič, choreographed by Siniša Bukinac and the Koper Theatre ensemble from Slovenia, opened the third Novi Sad Theater Festival. A few years ago, in Slovenia, The Diary of Anne Frank was removed from the list of official mandatory literature in primary school. The book is left as an optional reading title and whether it will be read would depend on a subject teacher. That is why it is extremely valuable that the Koper Theatre still continues to convey this tragic testimony.
Ana (Tina Gunzek) as Ana the narrator narrates parts from the diary, while Ana the Diary (Tjaša Bucik), Ana's family and other Jews hidden in the attic (Siniša Bukinac, Vito Colangelo, Patricija Crnković, Noemi Bak and Luka Ostrež) dance the events. The most exciting moments of the play are those in which the action and the narration are in counterpoint. The narrowness of the hiding place and the feeling of claustrophobia, is very clearly evoked through music (Mirko Vuksanović) and video projections. The selection of the text from the Diary very successfully balances the information about the war, the crimes committed by the Nazis and Ana's inner world woven from teenage rebellion, reflections on love and happiness.
Learning about the wars and past demise may prevent future wars or make us speak out about those happening today bringing destruction of civilians and children.
Divna Stojanov, playwright
 
AUDIENCE IMPRESSIONS:
"I understood everything, it's just not clear to me why Hitler hated the Jews." (age 9)
"I really liked the dance! It's really good!" (age 11)
"I'm in shock! We learned a little about this at school, but I didn't know it was really like this." (age 11)
"I would like to see that hiding place. And those eight people. I barely tolerate to share a room with my brother." (age 9)
"The choreography is perfect. Even though the actress was speaking, everything was clear through movement." (age 15)
"It was very sad for me, but I'm glad that I now know about Anne Frank." (age 10)
"I don't know how the dancers managed to dance to such a poignant theme." (age 10)
P.S. Theatrical view is not intended as a theater critique, nor as a presentation of the play, but as a set of impressions of a playwright and the audience immediately after watching the play.
Divna Stojanov

Interview: Renata Vidič, director of Koper's "Anne Frank"

Renata Vidič FOTO Miha TrefaltWhat does it look like when pain is danced, when the longing for freedom is danced, what kind of diary of today's world pain could be written every day, and where can a person save oneself from today's world; these are the questions for Renata Vidić, the director of the play "The Diary of Anne Frank", which opened the 3rd Novi Sad Theatre Festival on the stage of the Youth Theatre.
The Slovenian director says that the common denominator of all the questions raised is freedom, which it is the key to everything - and that is why we must fight for it. She does it on the theater stage.
The time we live in is not as dramatic as that of Anne Frank’s, but even at this moment there are parts of the world where it is difficult and almost impossible to live. At the moment when we are talking, some people in Gaza, Ukraine, in other parts of the world, are in some basements or attics and fear for their lives and the lives of their children... If you were writing a diary like that of Anne Frank, what would you write about this time in it?
I think that Anne Frank chose the form of her diary well, to write to her friend. And the diary that I would write would also be a kind of dialogue, because writing a diary is always like a dialogue, you talk about yourself - you think about yourself and the things around you, about the world you live in and write about it, but always before you write, you think about what you are going to say, you think about your feelings. That self-reflection is still very important today. Self-reflection is a way to go through life so that you know what you want, to see injustice, whether it concerns you or someone else, and to speak about it. Today we live at a very fast pace, the rhythm is astonishingly fast, we live with photos and thumbnails on our phones... Man is no longer a man, we are not the being we once were.. Things are snatched from our hands and we don't know how to understand them. ...
At what point did you realize that you would do Anne Frank as a dance performance?
It was actually the idea of Katja Pegan, director of the Koper Theatre. She suggested that we do a play about Anne Frank since the book had been taken out of the reading list at schools. And she also suggested the dance format, asking me to write a dramatic template, a kind of script, so that Siniša Bukinac would have material for choreography.
Why do you think The Diary of Anne Frank was removed from Slovenian reading list? Why do we today, everywhere, seem to be ashamed of those people who are symbols of the struggle for freedom that we live in today...
In Slovenia, the argument was that it is no longer relevant... And let's look at Gaza, Ukraine, Africa, Iran, Iraq... These horrors are still happening to people. We still live in the age of fascism. Not all of us, but quite a lot of us. We have those skinheads, those fools from football games, neo-Nazism is on the rise, as well as right-wing parties in all of Europe. Let's say, our Slovenia is very xenophobic. We don't like foreigners. Our policy is bad rhetoric towards foreigners. Illegal emigrants pass through Slovenia and people would not help them.
The Slovenian writer Goran Vojnović wrote a novel on that topic - "Chefurji raus". We - people, actually do not tolerate anything that is new and unknown, we do not accept new people, ideas, new opportunities... We only talk about change, and since change is a responsibility, we actually long for the status quo. Is it different in the area of art and theatre, for example?
The theatre, it seems to me, is still a place of freedom. At least that's been my experience, wherever I've worked. Not only freedom on stage, but freedom of ideas. Theatre works in various ways. It is a space of acceptance of communication and an extended hand, sometimes even despite some circumstances. It is above all a space of freedom.
What is the most interesting topic for you in Slovenia, in the theater today?
Several times during our conversation I said the word - freedom. It is the highest value for me. It is my main subject. Freedom of the individual and society in general.
Is it present among the actors, do you feel it in the actors you work with?
There is no actor without freedom. If they did not feel the desire for freedom, they would not be actors.
Do you know someone who fights for freedom - speech, action, freedom of thought?
I know. Every artist is a freedom fighter.
 Snežana Miletić

Listening to a troubled world

The third Novi Sad Theatre Festival will take place from May 8 to 15 at the Youth Theatre in Novi Sad. The Festival will offer an exceptional program, mostly plays for young people, but also children. The plays will look into the important phenomena of modern young people - in the present, through the prism of events from the past, and all of them aim to teach us how to be better people in the near future.
 
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK
May 8, 7:30 p.m., Big Stage
(Ages 11+)
The Koper Theater from Slovenia, arrives with a staging of the diary entries of Anne Frank, who began writing them when she was only 13 years old, in the hiding place of the attic of an office building in Amsterdam, where her family, together with the friendly family Van Daan, hid from the Nazis. The play is directed by Renata Vidič. This, today a classic read for young people and adults, is still an inspiration for creators who remind us of the horrors of the Second World War with Anna's story. The Diary of Anne Frank moved a choreographer and dancer Siniša Bukinac with its directness, who translated life in hiding, and especially Anne's personal experience of the world, first love and resistance to the assumed authority of adults, into dance steps. His dance reminds us of the insanity of wars - past and present.
 
THE SECRET DIARY OF ADRIAN MOLE
May 9, 2 p.m., Big Stage – U programskoj je 7 p.m.
(Ages 9+)
The Belgrade Theatre "Boško Buha", and director Tanja Mandić Rigonat, present the famous diary prose that portrays the life of an adolescent-intellectual in a hilariously entertaining way. Although the story is set in the eighties of the last century - in Great Britain, Adrian's problems are universal, regarding both time and space. He grows up in a dysfunctional family, goes through the divorce of his parents and his mother’s moving out of the family home; he endures bullying, his father loses his job, experiences the suffering and happiness that comes with the first great love. Adrian is convinced that he is a great writer in the making, even the rejections he receives from the BBC do not sway him. He shares his thoughts with the audience, leading them through the events filled with weirdly twisted characters of peers, parents, neighbors, teachers...
 
I, SISYPHUS
May 10, 5 p.m., Small Stage
(Ages 14+)
Bulgarian artists from the Puppet Laboratory from Sofia come with a play directed by Veselka Kuncheva, which explores the path of man's eternal return to himself. Ever since the ancient time, philosophers have discovered the absurdity of human behavior. Whatever path one takes, whoever they try to become, whatever path one tries to escape from – they always come back to themselves. Human life is a repetition of one and the same action: spiral, same, predictable. And such constant action forces us not to think about the meaning, but about the meaninglessness of human life.
 
HIC SUNT DRACONES
May 10, 7 p.m., Big Stage
(Ages 15+)
Czech Theater "Continuo" from Malovice and their director Pavel Sturac will present a visual poem with elements of magic, absurdity and grotesque. Their performance combines physical theater, animation of materials and objects, with the principles of visual art theater. This is a trip to an unknown place where nothing reminds us of our everyday waking life. It is the discovery of an area described by ancient cartographers as "Hic sunt dracones".
 
VELVET REVOLUTION
May 11, 7 p.m., Big Stage
(Ages 17+)
The Osijek Cultural Center, and director Vanja Jovanović, present the Festival with the story of Duško Radić, who is on the threshold of a big change in his life. After five years spent in the countryside, he finally returned to the city to finish his history studies. He has only one evening left before the defense of his diploma thesis on the topic of the French Revolution. It is the evening that marks the end of his student life and his entry into the world of adults. The moment that many students secretly shy away from, due to fear of the future, is just another ordinary day for Duško, because, unlike his peers, he has a plan. He has gone through all the literature, learned to cite all the relevant references and is ready to support his every thesis in front of a committee of professors. He has the foundations for the beginning of his own revolution, but the evening he planned to spend locked in his room before his diploma defense is interrupted by the arrival of unexpected guests....
 
THE CLOWN AND HIS CHILDREN
May 12, 11 a.m., Small Stage
(Ages 4+)
The Bulgarian Theatre "Atelier 313" from Sofia will perform a play directed by Zheni Pashova and Petar Pashov, the story of the children of the Clown, an artist who presents his art to young and old, the poor and the rich, on stage and in the square? Who gives him so much trouble and is also his greatest source of love and inspiration? Puppets, of course! Only they can make people laugh, be so naïve and at the same time so self-confident, be so stupid but always sincere and full of love, just like their creator and progenitor: the Clown. Children already consider puppets their friends, and the clown, we already know that he is a good-natured, naive and somewhat naughty man, but a friend to everyone - especially the youngest.
 
CITY OF LIGHTS
May 12, 7 p.m., Big Stage
(Ages 10+)
The Kragujevac Theatre for Children and Youth and the director of their play, David Zuazola, perform a special puppet show that seeks to explore new creative possibilities, which go beyond the traditional ways the puppet theater is based on. Thinking about the importance of involving the local community in the creation of this play, they wanted the audience to be more than mere observers, sitting in their seats waiting for the play to begin and end. That's why they take us on a journey where every viewer will gain a new, comprehensive experience...
 
HOTEL
May 13, 7 p.m., Big Stage
(Ages 10+)

The Bulgarian State Puppet Theatre from Stara Zagora and the director Lyubomir Zhelev, talking about their play, say that love at first sight is an instant fateful trust that we find in another human being and a state in which magnetism becomes an insatiable feast for the soul and senses. It is both a feather dancing in the wind, and a leaf falling on it. A flower of the desert, at the same time a rainbow in a raindrop...

LITTLE FRIDA
May 14, 11 a.m., Big Stage
(Ages 7+)
Zagreb City Theatre "Zar ptica" comes with an author's project by Jelena Kovačić and Anica Tomić, which tells us about friendship that makes us better, determination that makes us fearless and imagination that makes everything possible. It was inspired by the childhood of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, one of the most fascinating artists of the 20th century. The seven-year-old Frida from this play takes us to Mexico, to Casa Azul - the Kahlo family house. There, inside the blue walls, Frida tries to strengthen her sick leg, which is why her peers shun her and call her "Frida the Wooden Leg". She spends her days hanging out with her parents and animals, and her only human friend is the fictional girl Brice. Frida still fantasizes about real friends, but those who will not make fun of her. Finally, one day, a real boy Pablo enters her life, who will only from time with Frida learn what it means to be a friend. This is a story about acceptance - of oneself and others.
 
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD
May 15, 11 a.m., Big Stage
(Ages 7+)
The Italian Theater Zaches from Florence, in this play directed by Luana Gramegna, reveals to us that far from their mother's eyes, children push limits and face dangers and risks, but also their fears. The languages of dance, puppet theatre and music are delicate instruments used to tell a story. Dragons can be killed, or tamed, but either way we must know them, just as we must know ourselves so that we can overcome our fears. The brave ones are not those who are not afraid, but those who choose not to look away from fear.

Supporting programs

This year's Novi Sad Theatre Festival will have six supporting programs: two promotions of professional books, promotion of the new department of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, promotion of a poetry collection, a Forum discussion about what young people would like to see in the theater, the Youth Theatre play "Crime and Punishment", and the Forum of Young Critics.
 
Promotion of books by Professor Livija Kroflin: "The Soul in the Object" and "Puppetry Wonders of the World"
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.
 
Promotion of the Master's study of Puppetry, Academy of Arts in Novi Sad
In the year it celebrates its fiftieth birthday, the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad accredited a two-year master's degree program called Puppetry. The course books, content and method of teaching will be presented at the promotion. Those present will be able to talk to the professors who will be teaching at these master's studies, and the studies will be promoted by: Vesna Ždrnja, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Novi Sad, Professor of Puppetry Saša Latinović, Teaching Assistant in Puppetry, actor Slobodan Ninković, and Professor Ivana Mijić Nemet, who will teach the following subjects: History of Puppetry, Literature for Children and Youth and Drama for Children and Youth.
 
Meeting with children's poet Duško Domanović and promotion of his book "Perfect Day"
Duško Domanović, a poet with a refined sense of the world in which everything important to the human soul is disappearing, will promote his exceptional children's book "Perfect Day" in front of the audience of the Novi Sad Theatre Festival. This Domanović's, a kind of poetic exercise room for smiling, addresses our will to participate in the game of meaning. The meeting between children and the poet will be an opportunity to ask questions about how to become a poet, how to write, where inspiration comes from, what is important to write well. Duško Domanović graduated from the Department of Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. He also worked as a journalist, and instead of listing the titles of his excellent books and numerous awards he received, it is more important to point out that what he writes for children today should definitely have its place in future textbooks, as a way of giving his books new life. Along with the poems he writes for adults, his work will definitely be proof that even in this time, there were virtuous people, who saw well and heard well.
 
Performance "Crime and Punishment"/Youth Theatre, Novi Sad
What is crime today, is every crime followed by a punishment, is every perpetrator punished or are the victims only punished - by inaction? Why are some crimes relativized depending on the social and cultural frameworks or people’s stations there? These are just some of the questions that the team of the play "Crime and Punishment" of the Youth Theatre dealt with. The play, which was inspired by the novel by F. M. Dostoyevsky, is a puppet, interactive, monodrama for high school students, but also for fans of the Russian master of the written word, in which the author duo Mrdaković/Milković tried to grasp all the traces of Raskolnikov's "schemes" in modern society and find out if there is a moral transformation today, if there is repentance? The play was directed by Emilija Mrdaković based on the dramatization of Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky novel by Teodora Marković. Starring: Aleksandar Milković (Raskolnikov) and Dragana Ilić (Sonya - via video).
 
Forum "What are young people looking for in the theatre?"
In Serbia, on one hand, there is a theatre scene for children, as well as numerous theatre festivals for children. In certain repertoires, there is also quantitatively very rich production. On the other hand, there is also a diverse theatre scene for adults. What is missing is the link between these two scenes, and that is theatre for young people. And precisely in that - let's call it - bridge between plays for children and plays for adults, the theatre loses its audience. It is unfair to expect that someone who saw the last performance of "Little Red Riding Hood" or "Pinocchio" in their childhood returns to the theatre in 10 to 15 years to see Shakespeare, Nušić or a contemporary drama. For a whole decade, if not more, there is no age-appropriate content so how can we expect those young adults to come back to the theatre later. In the teenage years, affinities develop, habits are formed, and interests are chosen that are nurtured and maintained in the adult phase of life. It seems that the young, even if they want to, cannot develop an interest in the theatre, simply because most plays do not communicate with them. With such practice, the theatre loses its audience. Likewise, it is illogical to blame and criticize today's younger population for having "wrong values" and turning to potentially inappropriate content when different one is rarely offered to them, at least not in the theatre. Maybe some teenagers would love to go to the theatre, but it rarely speaks to them. Theatre has a healing, supportive function, it can make young people less lonely, dissuade them from the convictions that tend to occupy teenagers and young people, when they mostly feel a certain way and that this feeling is eternal and unchanging. The theatre needs the young and the young need the theatre. In order for this to happen, a forum was designed on the topic of what young people would like to see in the theatre, what they are interested in and what content would attract them to the theatre. Through an open communication with young people, theatre visitors, active members of various drama sections and acting workshops, we want to open a conversation on these topics so that creators of theatre for young people and interested representatives of the institutions can hear the voice of young people. Since its inception, Novi Sad Theatre Festival have fostered a dialogue between the authors of plays for children and young people and the audience. Forum is a logical continuation of that exchange and a deepening of the analysis of theatre for young people. The panel moderator is Divna Stojanov.     
                 
Forum of young critics
The accompanying program "Forum of young critics" was carefully designed with the idea of educating new generations about theatre. Attendees of the Drama Studio of the Youth Theatre, children of different ages, who are also regular viewers of the performances of the Youth Theatre, participate in this program. Actors and pedagogues who work with them teach them how to watch plays, how to read theatrical signs and symbols, but also to better understand human characters and recognize topics important for their future life. In the previous two years, children had the opportunity to meet the creators after watching the performances and ask them a variety of questions. Often, the children put the actors and authors of the plays in serious dilemmas with their questions. Divna Stojanov, the moderator of the Forum, says: I believe that when we are audience, we should be as good as possible, the best at it. In the long term, the Forum of young critics has taken a step towards the formation of new audience as well as nurturing them in general.



Welcome to the Novi Sad Theatre Festival!

I proudly present to you this year's Third International Theatre Festival for Children and Youth - Novi Sad Theatre Festival, as a link between different cultures and countries, different ideas, emotions and perspectives.
The selection that will inspire us and make us think, this year brings performances from Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Bulgaria, Italy and Serbia. Among them are shows intended for the youngest, but also for those who are not so young, there are drama shows, puppet shows... In a word, a program that will truly enrich us and - I believe - leave an indelible mark.
Thank you for joining the Novi Sad Theatre Festival. May the week of the Festival be filled with the magic of the theater and may each performance bring us a new discovery and joy.
Let's enjoy the Novi Sad Theatre Festival. Welcome to Novi Sad. Welcome to Serbia.

Selection of performances for 2024

Thatre Continuo, Malovice, Czech Republic
HIC SUNT DRACONES
Author: Pavel Stourac
Director: Pavel Stourac
Age recommended: 15+

City Theater "Žar ptica", Zagreb, Croatia
LITTLE FRIDA
Authors: Jelena Kovačić and Anica Tomić
Director: Anica Tomić
Age recommended: 7+

La Fille Du Laitier, Montréal, Québec, Canada
MACBETH MUET
Author: Marie-Hélène Bélanger and Jon Lachlan Stewart based on Macbeth
Director: Marie-Hélène Bélanger and Jon Lachlan Stewart
Age recommended: 14+

State Puppet Theatre Stara Zagora, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
HOTEL
Author: Lyubomir Zhelev
Director: Lyubomir Zhelev
Age recommended: 7+

Zaches teatro, Firenze, Italy
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD
Author: Luana Gramegna
Director: Alberto Bartolini
Age recommended: 5+

Tehatre Koper - Teatro Capodistria, Koper, Slovenia
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK
Author: Anne Frank
Director: Renata Vidič
Age recommended: 11+

Osijek Cultural Center, Osijek, Croatia
VELVET REVOLUTION
Author: Matej Sudarič, Vanja Jovanović
Director: Vanja Jovanović
Age recommended: 17+
 
Puppetes lab, Sofia, Bulgaria
I, SISYPHUS
Author: Veselka Kuncheva
Director: Veselka Kuncheva
Age recommended: 14+

Theatre “Boško Buha”, BeLgradE, Serbia
THE SECRET DIARY OF ADRIAN MOLE
Author: Sue Townsend
Director: Tanja Mandić Rigonat
Age recommended: 9+

Theater for Children and Youth Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia
CITY OF LIGHT
Author: David Zuazola
Director: David Zuazola
Age recommended: 10+

Theatre “Atelier 313”, Sofia, Bulgaria
THE CLOWN AND HIS CHILDREN
Author: Ženi Pašova i Petar Pašov
Director: Ženi Pašova i Petar Pašov
Age recommended: 4+

Macedonian "Ronia – the Robber’s Daughter" winner of the 2nd Novi Sad Theater Festival

The Second International Festival of Professional Theaters for Children and Youth Novi Sad Theater Festival has been a safe haven for our children and young people and their parents in the past seven days. We express our gratitude to all the ensembles who arrived in Novi Sad and showed us the best of what they can do. And now the awards, which were decided by a jury consisting of a costume designer Milica Grbić Komazec, a journalist Olivera Milošević and an actress Maja Lučič.

DECISIONS OF THE JURY

  • Grand Prix - award for the best play as a whole is awarded by the jury to the performance "Ronia, The Robber’s Daughter", directed by Jakub Maksimov, Theater for Children and Youth, Skopje.

The performance is exceptional and layered in all segments, at the same time archaic and modern, and has all the components that make it outstanding.

  • Best Director Award is awarded to Tamara Kučinović for the play "Frozen Songs" of the City Puppet Theater Rijeka.

Extremely precise and skilful, Tamara Kučinović connected all segments of the play and created a realistic, but at the same time warm and imaginative theatrical story.

  • Best Actor/Actress Award - Jelena Trkulja for multiple roles in the play "Heidi", directed by Đurđa Tešić, “Boško Buha" Theatre.

Jelena Trkulja interpreted three different characters in the play, which is characterized above all by collective play. Her acting was utterly believable, witty and suggestive.

  • Animation Mastery Award - Matea Jankovoska for the role of Ronia in the play "Ronia – The Robber’s Daughter", directed by Jakub Maksimov, Theater for children and young people - Skopje.

Matea Jankovska skillfully animates the puppets, energetically and heartily playing a brave and daring girl, using a wide range of animating and acting skills.

  • Special Award for Authenticity and Originality - the play "Clowns’ Houses", theater "Merlin" from Berlin, authors Dimitris Stamu and Demetra Papada.

The award is given for authenticity and originality, for showing modernity through a specific visual and dramaturgical expression in a play that through dark humor and grotesque tells a story about us today.

  • Special Award for Overall Impression is awarded by the jury to Alek Ćurčić, for the performance of the play "Geometry of the Soul", directed by Olga Zečeva, from the "Plus" theater from Spain. The award is given for the overall and stunning impression when using various performing arts techniques in the play "Geometry of the Soul", which is a good example of contemporary theatrical expression.
  • Special Award for Collective Acting and Animation to the ensemble of the play "Frozen Songs" directed by Tamara Kučinović, City Puppet Theater Rijeka.

The ensemble of the play showed exceptional skill in expressing subtle emotions through puppets, insisting on the precision of synchronized, realistic movement expression.

Maja Lučić, president of the jury

Olivera Milošević, member of the jury

Milica Grbić Komazec, member of the jury

In the theater we create both resistance and solidarity

Demetra Papada is part of the Greek troupe "Merlin", based in Berlin, which performed "Clowns’ Houses" at the festival. Greek-German artists portrayed the world of alienated people in an authentically black-humored and grotesque, but also poignantly humorous way...

As an artist, are you afraid of the world you talk about in the play?

I am, of course I am, like everyone else, but the theater is a way to talk about those fears openly in order to overcome them. To analyze and share the experience of thinking and the experience of fear, that is important in the theater. We put a lot of personal stuff in there, but it is the story of all of us, both politically and socially in the whole world. All our plays talk about current problems, and we address children and their parents.

What kind of stories are good to tell our children and how should they be told in the theater?

For me personally, it is important that stories for children are true. I make them the same way as for adults. My opinion is that if I like something as an adult and I'm not bored, kids won't be bored either. I treat children as friends. I try to make my theatrical language clear and precise, true. If it is true and acceptable, then I can talk about difficult things, but also dream about a better time. We can all create resistance and solidarity together. In that sense, I am both a realist and a dreamer. This is how you should talk to children.

You are a Greek troupe with an address in Berlin. Is it possible to function as an independent troupe?

It is. We are a completely independent company that does nothing for fun. Everything that we showed in this play, for example, we made from waste, recycled things, which is a way to contribute to a cleaner world. In this way, we can connect ecologically with people's consciousness.

Are you supported by the German government in any way?

We are a completely independent company, but during Covid period, the German government helped all our artists and that was really important, while in Greece, for example, no one helped the artists, which makes my heart ache.

What other plays do you perform?

Recently, we are performing two plays, one for the whole family - "No Man's Land", and the other play called "Drowning" talks about the anxieties of our world and how to deal with them. It also talks about how to live without striking a pose, because people today live a lot in a pose - untrue. And it would be simple just to live, and be...

Let's change what's behind the mirror

The world is becoming a cruel place for everyone, and these days the capital of Serbia was the scene of a terrible tragedy that should never have happened. With the Bulgarian artist Biserka Kolevska, who directed the play "Through the Looking Glass", and who took the children on an extremely exciting journey, the conversation began with the question about the importance of telling stories - and which ones...

What kind of stories are we obliged to tell our children?

We must tell children good stories, about good people, tell them good examples from life. We have to tell them about the importance of companionship and having a good friend. And stories about having to believe in themselves. Alice believed in herself and that's why she could go on. "Alice" and stories like it are not only for children, but also for adults. "Alice" is a story with many meanings and many important life sentences. Today in the world you have to run a lot and fast to get to your place, the place that belongs to you. If you don't run, if you don't keep moving forward, you sleep, young people move on, and you sleep at home and nothing will become of you. In our performance, we tried to explain why it is important to think, and we tried to achieve that through visual effects.

What do we adults hide behind the mirror that we shouldn't?

We are afraid to look in the mirror, and it would be good if we were not ashamed to see ourselves in it, because that is the only way we can correct our mistakes. "Alice" is the only natural one and as such she is very visible among all those creatures who are ugly, stupid, evil, useless... Alice is that hope, the canvas on which our imperfection is projected.

Does this human civilization of ours have the strength and will to change that, can arts and culture, for example, do it?

I am very sorry that it is so, but I do not believe it. All of us who work in the theater try to point out that money and power are not important and deciding factors. I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid people have gone completely crazy. Unfortunately, the children have already gone crazy. Currently, I'm staging the play "Peter Pan" and at one point in the play a sentence is heard: If you don't believe that fairies exist, they will disappear, and there will be death. My actors and collaborators are trying to convince the children to believe in magic.

Warm hearts are the most important place

Magdalena Lupi Alvir is a playwright and director of the Rijeka City Puppet Theater who brought to Novi Sad Theater Festival the tender and warm "Frozen Songs". It is a performance that we needed, not only in this moment of our social-political situation and ways of dealing with children or not, but in general the kind of performance that should be created for our youngest at all times. It talks about the fact that a smile comes to your face even if you think it will never be on your face again, and you only need to have someone next to you who feels and understands your being...

We live in a part of the world where there are no such great colds as in "Frozen Songs", but because of everything that is happening, both in this part of the world and worldwide, we can say that the mistakes of humanity are beginning to chain us. What songs would have to be sung now to thaw the frozen heart of an alienated world?

The initial title of Tamara Kučinović's play was "Frozen songs for warm hearts". Warm hearts are a terribly important place for us. It is the only place that is safe, which is our home and it should always be open to everything that the outside world tries to cool. We definitely need to talk about these topics with children, because we live in a world that is quite ruthless, more and more merciless, less and less communicative and more and more cold; to talk about true emotion, true friendship and love, about the fact that you always have room in your heart for others and for those who are different from you. The girl in our play comes "from Europe" to a region that is an imaginary part of the Russian northern regions, which the director Tamara took from the original author, the Russian writer Stepan Pisakhov. We must constantly keep in mind that those warm hearts are always open to all people who need warmth, and everyone needs it. We have to constantly try in any way to thaw that world that persistently freezes us for various reasons and find a moment and a sincere emotion, and children know how to recognize that. That is why we must speak honestly, truthfully and openly with our children, and that is the only space that we must be aware of and invite adults and parents to enter. Children have it innately, they know how to recognize it, and we adults often forget it and often build this dull, frozen world around them, which is terrible for an adult to admit. We adults must therefore be aware that we must open our hearts.

Why do we push children to be more grown up than they are?

That's exactly what we're doing. Constantly skipping over them, we accelerate and measure them according to some of our own, wrong standards. And as much as we think that everything else is not letting them grow undisturbed at their own pace, we are actually the ones who are not letting them grow up, with both good and bad things, to simply live a life appropriate to their age. We do it out of some fear for them, and we are afraid because we ourselves have too many fears, some inherited, some from the past, some from the present, and some from the future, because we constantly project fear from some future. We are doing wrong to ourselves as parents, and also to our children. You just need to let them go, which, I know, is easy to say, because it's not easy from a parent's position. Practically, you should let them go and only be their support and help, and try to direct and channel everything that bothers and interests them, talk, channel both your own and their fears. And it comes to some solution, which in the end may not even exist, but at least ask the right question at the right time. And be their support in growing up. It is involuntarily absent, and it is not our intention to do so, however, the culture of growing up at any cost, by any measure, pushes us towards it. And the world is accelerated enough without that and they should not be pushed into even greater acceleration because we have all become victims of that acceleration. It is important to let children grow up at their own pace.

The puppets wanted a stopover in Vienna

The actors of the Berlin show "Clowns’ Houses" had bad luck when arriving in Novi Sad, because their luggage, which contained scenography and puppets, was lost on the flight to Belgrade. Because of this, the performance of their play was called into question. Fortunately, the luggage was traced... It turned out that the puppets, on their way through Europe, wanted to have a little fun in Vienna. They appeared tonight, May 14, around midnight, at Nikola Tesla Airport. We were all happy, and the two-member team of the "Merlin" Theater, which includes Dimitris Stamu and Demi Papada, could breathe a sigh of relief, because we will see them on May 15 from 2 p.m. We are waiting for you...

Expanding the circle of knowledge

Saša Latinović, a professor at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad and an actor at the Youth Theater, is a member of the Festival Council. In between hanging out with guests from all over Europe and watching some great shows, he shared his thoughts on Novi Sad Theater Festival...

"Festivals give us the opportunity in a short period of time, in one place, to see what the new trends are and what the theater scene looks like - in our country or in the world, depending on whether the festival is local, regional or international. This festival of ours provided an opportunity for the audience, but also for us other creators, to see what new discoveries our colleagues who deal with a very similar theater genre - theater for young people and children, or puppet theater - have made.

In these 12 performances of the 2nd Novi Sad Theater Festival, we could see performances performed only by actors, producing all the effects with their body and voice, and with the help of live instruments. We could see performances in which the main characters are robotic toys-objects from everyday use, without seeing the actors at all, although they are there, because they control everything on the stage. We could also see two dance performances in which the text and speech are not dominant at all, but the body language is what tells the story. We had the opportunity to see guests from various parts of the world, which is wonderful and beautiful, because it gave our audience the opportunity to see something else that is not available in our theater. That moment of expanding the circle of knowledge and understanding of theater is one of the greatest values of the festival in general. It is wonderful that we were able to meet with our colleagues and talk, to exchange experiences: what kind of theater is there, what are their tendencies, what are the topics. We hope and look forward to the next "Novi Sad Theater Festival", that it will be richer and even more notable.

The festival, by the way, takes a long time to prepare. There are various services involved and people who deal with it and take care of everything, and there are also those who have to support us financially. We are under the authority of the Assembly of the City of Novi Sad and we are grateful for the support, because without it the festival could not be held. With this festival, we confirm that Novi Sad is a city of culture and that it deserves such a festival along with Sterija's Theater and Infant. Best of all, our audience is lucky and privileged to see it, and it is visited in great numbers."

The most important are the children's reactions

The actress of the Youth Theater Slavica Vučetić is a member of the "Novi Sad Theater Festival" Council. Between the obligations she has with the Drama Studio during the festival, whose students participate in discussions with the creators after the performances, she talked about why it is important that Novi Sad has a festival like this...

"Novi Sad Theater Festival" is designed as a festival that is not limited to only one type of expression (puppetry, drama theater, musical, contemporary dance...), but as a festival that presents a wide range of creativity for the young and youngest audience to the local audience. This concept comes primarily from the desire to present our youngest fellow citizens with the most diverse forms of contemporary theatrical creativity for children and young people, performances that they do not have the opportunity to see in their immediate environment, to discuss them and build their own theater form preferences.

From the point of view of all of us who professionally deal with theater for children and young people, we are proud that already in its second year of existence, our festival has gained a notable place on the world festival map and that renowned theater creators respond to the invitation to participate in it. With a large number of friends and associates from the region, who, as our guests, follow the entire festival program, we raise professional standards in theater for children and young people and build a network of associates for new, even more challenging projects."

The world will turn green if we try

The performance of Tel Aviv's Key Theater - "When all was green" is cleverly designed and - with attention to every detail - a meticulously executed theatrical play. It tells a story about nature and how man greedily stretches it, about green areas that are lost before the bestiality of concrete and human thoughtlessness, but also about one green bud of hope. After a show like this, the viewer can't help but ask himself, has it ever been completely green and will man ever become so conscientious that one day the color green prevails around us again?

We talked to Dikla Katz and Avi Zilha.

The play is inspired by Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree. In our busy world today, what could that good tree be?

I think the tree and nature are a good metaphor in our lives. It is about existence, common coexistence, relationships of taking and giving, it is important to emphasize - not only taking. If we look at a tree, we have to appreciate what it gives us and respect it, and if we don't understand the importance of its survival, then we don't understand and don't respect the structure of the world.

Beauty is in small details, you really paid attention to them. It takes so much for a person to so gently and delicately move those little creatures that tell us this wise story through those dexterous fingers. Do today's kids, who are quite impatient, also see those details?

I think they see them, we try to make them pay attention to those details. We help them through our expression. The whole story could have been without details, sound, some movements, but thanks to those, the children see that it is not just a tree playing a tree but that the tree has a story to tell. Even if they don't connect everything at the beginning, if they don't fully understand, the story opens up for them in an hour, a day, a week.

Are you optimistic that someday in the future everything will be green again?

That is life's biggest question. The whole world will not become green, but we, humans have the power to make at least some small parts of this world greener, to think about our environment, parents, friends, other people, other countries, to be more sensitive and to realize that we are not the only ones in this world. Maybe the world won't go completely green again, but maybe it can get greener, step by step, if we're sensitive enough.