THE PUPPETS OF TOŠA JOVANOVIĆ NATIONAL THEATRE PUPPETRY DIVISION

Opening: 19th September at 11.30 a.m. 

Subotica Children’s Theatre

The exhibition: The Puppets of Toša Jovanović National Theatre Puppetry division

Exhibition concept: Blagovesta Vasileva

Puppet selection and exhibit design: Blagovesta Vasileva and Vladimir Živin

ABOUT THE THEATRE:

The Puppetry division of Toša Jovanović National Theatre is a fully professional puppet theatre that constitutes Toša Jovanović National Theatre in Zrenjanin, along with its Drama division.

The Puppetry division was founded under the name of Marionette Puppet Theatre in Home of the Pioneers building, in 1956. A professional puppet theatre was built on the foundation A professional puppet theater was built on the foundation of pre-World War II amateur puppet shows and the increasing public and artists’ interest.

The first manager was Sandor Hartig - a multifaceted artist, writer, director, puppet, stage and costume designer – who, in the early years, worked hard to create an ensemble, but also a genuine theatre audience out of the youngest fellow citizens. The first decade of work is characterized by a huge number of puppet shows and multilingualism. At the time, the ensemble would perform in both Serbian and Hungarian. Plays were also performed in Romanian and Slovak with the actors animating puppets along to a voiceover from a tape recorder. Sandor Hartig was succeeded by Đorđe Damjanov Đekša, the headmaster who procured a bus and the essential stage equipment for the theatre. During Stevan Marioncu's tenure, the ensemble’s ranks were joined by prominent actors who made the theatre widely famous - Jovan Caran, Tihomir Macković, Kristina Mirkov, Irena Tot, Mirjana Šajtinac. At that time, the city officials merged the puppet theatre and Toša Jovanović national Theatre. Physically, the two institutions were joined in 1982 when the puppeteers moved into the building of the "big" theatre because theirs was demolished.

The most famous and successful period of the Puppetry division was during the tenure of Vladimir Grubanov as its manager. In those 3 decades, Zrenjanin puppeteers matured into a serious ensemble that, working alongside biggest names in Yugoslav puppetry, produced great shows and won many awards at domestic and foreign festivals.

Aware of the fact that no school for puppeteers exists in Serbia, Grubanov founded a drama studio in 1995 with the purpose of teaching talented youngsters by working with Irena Tot, Mirjana Šajtinac, Višnja Kauzlarić Mandić and Jovan Caran.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Puppet theatre, like any other, exists for the audience. It feeds on applause and reaction. In puppetry, the objects on the stage come alive with the help of their creators behind the scenes, on stage and in the audience. Without an actor to animate it and without a child to watch it perform, a puppet is just an inanimate object. The puppet comes to life by the actor’s movements and voice, but also by the children’s gaze. The puppet begs to come to life, but she cannot do it by herself. In this endeavor, she is first aided by its designers, then the actor and, finally, imagination of the children.

1. PINOCCHIO Karlo Kolodi, dramatization by Barbara Horvat, directed by Radoslav Milenković, premiered Sept. 1 2007. Puppet design by Jelena Milić Zlatković

2. KING BEE Nenad Veličković, directed by Dragoslav Šilja Todorović, premiered April 10 2003. Puppet design by Jelena Milić Zlatković (won awards for the best play, best music, best 3 episodic roles and the children's jury award for the most beautiful puppet at the 36th Gathering of Professional Puppet Theatres of Serbia; prize for puppet design at 2004 Zvezdarište Theatre Festival)

3. CAPTAIN JOHN PEEPLFOX Dušan Radović, directed by Dragoslav Šilja Todorović, premiered Nov. 10 2004. Puppet design by Jelena Milić Zlatković (won 3 acting awards at the 37th Gathering of Professional Puppet Theatres of Serbia)

4. THE UGLY DUCKLING Uglješa Šajtinac, directed by Irene Tot, premiered February 14 2013. Puppet design by Blagovesta Vasilev (Tihomir Mačković award for the best puppet design at the 63rd Festival of Professional Theatres of Vojvodina; award for the best puppet design at the 45th Gathering of Professional Puppet Theatres of Serbia)

5. THE RABBIT, THE TORTOISE AND THE COMPANY Milena Depolo, directed by Dragoslav Šilja Todorović, premiered February 19 2015. Puppet design by Jelena Milić Zlatković (Tihomir Mačković award for the best puppet design at the 65th Festival of Professional Theatres of Vojvodina; special award for shadow theatre technique at the 46th Gathering of Professional Puppet Theatres of Serbia)

6. PARSELTONGUE Milivoje Mlađenović, directed by Miloš Jagodić, premiered Feb. 2014. Puppet design by Milica Grbić Komazec

7. THE WHITE WHALE SONG Reka Ferenci, directed by Atila Antal, premiered March 15 2016 (award for the best music at the 47th Gathering of Professional Puppet Theatres of Serbia)

8. PETER BLUE Đula Urban, directed by Emilija Mrdaković, premiered Dec. 10 2015. Puppet design by Blagovesta Vasilev (Tihomir Mačković award for the best puppet design at the 66th Festival of Professional Theatres of Vojvodina; best acting award at the 49th Gathering of Professional Puppet Theatres of Serbia)