THE CHILD AND THE PUPPET: The Theatre of Sándor Hartig

Opening: 20nd September 2026 at 6 PM

National Theatre Subotica

On view until 25 September 2026.

The Child and the Puppet: The Theatre of Sándor Hartig, an exhibition by Ljiljana Dinić, created to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Puppet Theatre in Zrenjanin.

The exhibition is part of the official programme of Zrenjanin – Serbian Capital of Culture 2025, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia and the City of Zrenjanin.

The exhibition pays tribute to the work and ideas of Sándor Hartig: director, writer, translator, puppeteer, puppet designer, and, above all, the founder of the Puppet Theatre in Zrenjanin.

In 2026, the National Theatre “Toša Jovanović” will celebrate two significant milestones – the 80th anniversary of its Drama Department and the 70th anniversary of its Puppet Department.

The anniversary of the Puppet Department provided an opportunity to create an exhibition in memory of the great and irreplaceable Sándor Hartig, in a way that reflects his own belief in how puppetry should be approached: through the eyes and imagination of a child. At the heart of his understanding of puppet theatre is the child in the audience, who, in his view, is the one creating the meaning of the performance. As a trained educator, Hartig based his theatrical work on the principles of developmental psychology and on the belief that puppetry and art play a significant role in shaping a person's moral, aesthetic, and ethical values.

Since its foundation in 1956, the Puppet Department of the National Theatre “Toša Jovanović” has established itself as one of the finest in the country and the wider region. The man who set everything in motion, whose vision continues to shape the work of the theatre today, was Sándor Hartig. The year in which Zrenjanin was awarded the title of Serbian Capital of Culture also marked the 100th anniversary of Hartig's birth. Just as Hartig was dedicated to children, their education, and their entertainment, this exhibition is intended for them – as well as for those who work with children – to discover the endless possibilities of puppetry.

In 1956, at the initiative of Sándor Hartig, the Marionette Puppet Theatre was founded, and on July 6, it presented its first performance: Pauline Cérafin's Colombine, directed by Sándor Hartig, who was also responsible for all the artistic aspects of the production. And so, the story began. One of the witnesses to Hartig's artistic work and his reflections on puppetry was Jovan Caran Denis - a versatile artist, actor, writer, director, and puppet maker and designer.