Andrej Boka: In our desire to provide everything for our children, we forget to give them attention and time

On Monday, September 23 - the second day of the 31st International Festival of Children's Theatres Subotica - two theatrical plays were performed as part of the competition program: Play with Me! by Subotica Children's Theatre and The Prehistoric People by Divadla Kladnos Theatre from the Czech Republic.

Play with Me! was performed on the company’s native stage at Subotica Children’s Theatre. This play serves as a little reminder and an invitation to play.

The play’s director and co-writer Andrej Boka said about the origin of the production: "I have been taking my two daughters to the theatre almost every weekend for the last couple of years. While watching the plays with them, I was pondering what topics would be interesting for children. At one point I came to the topic of parents’ dedication. In our hectic lifestyle and in our desire to provide everything for our children, we forget to give them attention and time. It grew from there and then I intertwined different motifs and created a basic story, after which we wrote the narration. Children watching the play react strongly to humor".

The Prehistoric People was performed at Subotica National Theatre’s Jadran stage. This play takes us back to a time when man was still pre-human, showing how the little man gradually won his place amidst mighty nature. Actress Diana Hauptová commented on the play: "Personally, this is a very fragile story in which the audience is closely connected with us from start to finish. Director Jiří Šponar was inspired by the traditional, illusionistic style of puppetry in which the actors are completely hidden. Now that freestyle and mixed puppetry techniques are becoming more and more common, he insisted on producing an old-school performance".

Hauptová added that the inspiration for the play came from the early works of Jevgeny Ibragimov (the winner of the best director award at last year’s 30th International Festival of Children's Theatres Subotica).

Hosted by Marijana Prpa-Fink, Ph.D., the 15th Forum for the Research of Theatre Art for Children and Youth was opened at Subotica Public Library’s new reading room. This year’s topic is Movement, Listening and a Changing Perception of Children and Youth Theatre.

At The Danilo Kiš Foundation for Youth Culture and Creativity, an exhibition of festival posters designed by the students of Belgrade’s Faculty of Applied Arts was opened to visitors.

Ilija Tatić, the manager of Open University Subotica, said during the opening ceremony: "For around 15 years, we have been collaborating with Belgrade’s Faculty of Applied Arts whose students have been tasked with designing a poster for our festival in one of their classes. They’re doing a great job. Each generation has its own unique style and to us elders it is extremely interesting witnessing the youth’s perception."

Mile Tasić, addressed the audience with the following words: "When you present the students with this kind of challenge, you cannot expect anything less than the beauty around us. Their artistic flight which awakens their entire imagination and talent - the internal power of expression - is really beautiful and remains for all time".

Boban Savić Geto, professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts, commented on the competitive nature of the selected artworks: "In art, results are not measurable the same way as in sports. A competitive element is present, but the students weren’t competing against each other. There are no winners or losers. Everyone is a winner. The festival got a great poster".

Irena Gvozdenović, the author of the award-winning artwork featured on this year's festival poster, portrayed a festival audience from the stage viewpoint. She was grateful for the recognition her work has received and commented that anyone can identify with depicted characters. The second best artwork was designed by Katarina Tolić while the third best was created by Lejla Abdula.

An exhibition honoring Luka Kecman and Jaroslaw Antoniuk - the winners of 2024 The Little Prince Lifetime Achievement Award - was opened at the Open University’s gallery space. Professor Zoran Đerić, the festival selector, spoke about the two artists’ legacy and then the laureates addressed the local primary schools students in the audience.

Luka Kecman addressed its young guests by quoting the play The Blue Color of Snow by Grigor Vitez: "All of you present here and everywhere, I am, respectfully, a court jester. I serve the king maddest of all, but it is forbidden to laugh at the king. So they laugh at me. And I laugh at everyone because such is the duty of a jester, to be the maddest of all people. I'll try to conceive a small royal joke for you in accordance to all the regulations and court etiquette. But first - everyone be quiet, so that you can hear the minutes passing by".

Jaroslaw Antoniuk said: "I’m very happy that my plays are being performed in Banja Luka, Mostar and elsewhere. Three of my plays were performed in Subotica and have received awards for direction, acting, music, stage design. Personally, it’s a great joy to create for the youngest audience. Within youth lies the truth".

Hotel Patria hosted book promotions for A Doll from Kindergarten to School Group: a Puppetry Handbook and a Collection of Plays by Branka Rudman and 65 Years of Puppet Theatre of Niš. At the same venue, a discussion session with Luka Kecman (this year's winners of The Little Prince award) was held. As part of the festival’s film program, Subotica’s Eurocinema hosted a screening of a French feature film The Last Jaguar.

Admission to all festival events is free.

The detailed program is available online at: https://www.lutfestsubotica.net/.

The International Festival of Children's Theatres Subotica is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the Provincial Department for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities of Vojvodina and the Municipality of Subotica.