Zvezdarište Theater Festival: Step into the adventure!
In the realm of art, we all create new worlds, drawing partially from the models of our daily lives and partially from our longing for fantasy. Anyone who has painted, written a play or a poem, or devised games with friends in the schoolyard has created a new world – a small, original system, a blend of codes and symbols, old ideas in new attire. This is art: nurturing and cultivating, from which the word "culture" also derives. Art also comes from our skills; we just need to let ourselves go and engage in play, creating a new field of excitement, joy, and security.
The slogan for this year’s Zvezdarište is “Step into the adventure”. Sometimes, it takes just a small step – courage and bravery – which will then be richly rewarded with happiness, twists and catharsis.
What connects the performances at the 19th Zvezdarište?
Perhaps it is the pronounced presence of imagined worlds, each with its own distinct reasons for existence. Our heroes create these worlds as shields, bubbles in which they hide, feel comfortable or set themselves specific tasks. They venture into another world, examining the porous membrane between reality and imagination. Adrian Mole embeds himself in his diary, creating a secret world that we are fortunate enough to enter, while Endless story is a true fantasy, similar to fairy tales, as is The Magical City with wonderful dolls. We encounter a collision of worlds in Underwater Concert, where the laws of this world are compared and contrasted with those beyond the water. Coincidentally or not, Bird of sand also presents encounters between the known and the unknown, between oneself and the other, who is yet to be discovered. A special element in this year's selection is the focus on nature and environmental concerns. Ecology is rightly a pressing topic and our theater professionals approach it with subtlety and care. This is exemplified in The Ancient Girlwhere a child lives harmoniously and immersed in nature and in The Brave seamstress, a true heroine of our time, a role model for young viewers. Love is both a means and a goal, a separate world we create in synergy with others but must first find ourselves within. In two performances, young and old viewers alike will confront the theme of loss. The protagonist’s mother in Xenia and Huntsman Huntsman is no longer present, but her love remains, creating an impenetrable barrier of safety, akin to the supreme value which is found by the hero, Lucas the Cat, Nine Lives of Lucas the Cat. Loss and fear are also explored in Don't Go Far Away, , which deals with the impact of war on an otherwise happy family. However, where there is fear, there is also purification and catharsis, which are profoundly significant for the young viewer, who grows through understanding and feeling. On the path of understanding the difference between good and evil, virtue and vice, a child will encounter both the sweet treats in Fairy Tale all Made of Sugar, and a new perspective on familiar tales, such as the well-known Cinderella.
This year's festival has an exciting meta element. By simply being in the theater, at this year’s Zvezdarište, seated comfortably among friends, the young viewer will discover a new world, only to have another one open on stage and paradoxically, within this second world, there exists at least one more that will reveal many new worlds in a small, clever mind. Therefore, it takes just a small step – just to "Step into the adventure" – and see what theatrical and human joys this act can bring.
Ana Vučković Denčić, writer and journalist
