Selector:

Željko Hubač
playwright

Selector's note

Selection of the competitive program 18th Children’s Theatre Festival POZORIŠTE ZVEZDARIŠTE

Recognize your star

 

     Considering the serious production problems that most theaters in the region are going through, the theater meant for children and young people still shows an unusual kind of vitality, which is best emanated in this year's offer through several brave aesthetic steps, primarily by young authors, but also by some already confirmed authors of the middle generation, strides that indicate a great artistic ambition, which, in turn, is based on the recognition of aesthetic movements in the theater for children and youth in the wider European area.

     It is interesting that the mentioned strides in this selection are the most visible in the performances of more chamber forms. In them the author's inventiveness in the given narrowness of space (which, on the semantic level, in this time of universal alienation, gains special significance) is so cathartically universal that it corresponds with life experiences of the audience of different ages. And plays that without conservative scruples deal with the problems of growing up and that on an aesthetic and didactic level arouse emotions and all kinds of curiosity of both children and those who bring those children to the theater, are important, and not only as undeniably high-quality works of art.

     Of course, the selection also detects a parallel trend that exists in regional theater production (which in practice is actually dominant in relation to the above-mentioned), and these are performances that, at different levels of perception of the needs of the youngest audience, complement the sharp and easily acceptable dramatic action with a seductive dramatic attraction. Cheerful plays that teach virtue, and which, thanks above all to the acting charm and craftsmanship of the author, form a harmonious artistic whole. Without an insight into that flow, this year's 18th Pozorište Zvezdarište would not be an accurate reflection of the reality in which theatres for children and youth are trying to persevere in times that, for survival, require all kinds of aesthetic polyvalence

    In the light of everything that has been said, and with the desire that every viewer of this year's Pozorište Zvezdarište, which is coming of age according to the number of its editions, recognizes his or her theater star, I propose the following selection to the Festival Council:

1. HEIDI by Milena Depolo (based on the novel by Johanna Spyri), directed by Đurđa Tešić, "Boško Buha" Theatre, Belgrade, Serbia
2. Missing by Nikola Zavišić (based on the stories by Toon Tellegen), directed by Nikola Zavišić, Puppet Theatre of Niš, Serbia
3. THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL by Sonja Petrović and Mina Petrić (based on the fairy tale by H. K. Andersen), directed by Sonja Petrović, Youth Theatre, Novi Sad, Festival of Ecological Theatre for Children and Youth FEP, Bačka Palanka, Association Freedom Has No Price, Serbia
4. THE SNOW QUEEN by Tijana Grumić (based on the fairy tale by H.C. Andersen), directed by Damjan Kecojević, Little Theatre “Duško Radović”, Belgrade, Serbia
5. CAFFE KINGDOM by Vanja Jovanović and Patrik Gregurec, directed by Vanja Jovanović, Puppet Theatre Zadar, Croatia
6. THE FOREST OF SONGS by Ajda Rooss (based on the stories by Sergey Kozlov), directed by Peter Kus, Kuskus Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
7. I AM AKIKO by Stefan Tićmi, directed by Milja Mazarak Cultural Center of Pančevo, Festival of Ecological Theatre for Children and Youth FEP, Bačka Palanka, Serbia
8. ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A LION by Nikola Bundalo (based on texts and motifs by Duško Radović), directed by Nikola Bundalo, Children’s Theatre of Republika Srpska, Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, BiH
9. ANGRY WORM by Mila Mašović, directed by Miloš Jagodić, Theatre "Puž", Belgrade, Serbia
10. BAMBI by Jakub Maksimov (based on the fairy tale by Felix Salten), directed by Jakub Maksimov, Theatre for Chidren and Youth Kragujevac, Serbia
11. ASKA AND THE WOLF by Olivera Viktorović (based on the story by Ivo Andrić), directed by Olivera Viktorović, "Pan Theatre", Belgrade, Serbia
12. FAIRYTALE OF THE ENCHANTED BEAUTY by Slavčo Malenov (based on the motifs of a folk fairy tale), directed by Slavčo Malenov, Puppet Theatre "Pinocchio", Belgrade, Serbia

In Belgrade, March 14, 2023.

Željko Hubač