The fifth day of the 30th Subotica International Children's Theater Festival

On Thursday, September 21, the fifth day of the 30th International Festival of Children's Theatres Subotica, the official selection featured the plays The Art of War by the Children's Theatre of the China Welfare Institute, Etc. from the Portuguese theatre S.A. Marionetas - Teatro e Bonecos and The Dragon and the Princesses of the Mostar Puppet Theater from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The play The Art of War (author: Du Cun, director: Zhao Ji) was performed on the Jadran stage of the National Theatre in Subotica. The play was created from the children’s perspective - with physical performance - to elaborate Aesop’s fable The Tortoise and the Rabbit in a comedic way. "We performed this story in a very Chinese manner and we hope the audience liked it, because it's a very different style from what usually arrives from other countries. For the audience, our play is a window to get to know China and our culture a bit better", said actress Zhou Lei adding that she was very happy and honored that her theatre was invited to the festival.

The play Etc. by the Portuguese theatre S.A. Marionetas - Teatro e Bonecos (authors and director: José Gill, Sofia Vinagre, Natacha Pereira), was performed at the Children's Theatre of Subotica, and is a product of many years of work in the field of puppet theater and, specifically, silent theater. These are short stories about a place whose inhabitants undergo various adventures. The innocence of characters’ actions results in occasional humor. Sounds and movement replace words, and puppets capture the attention of viewers with their simplicity.

Director and actor José Gill said about the play: "We created it with traveling around the world in mind. That is the reason we don't use words, so that everyone can understand the play. We wrote short stories about people, cats and love - ordinary stuff. Cats are always doing funny stuff, by watching them we come up with great ideas.”

At National Theatre’s Jadran stage, Mostar Puppet Theatre from Bosnia and Herzegovina performed a play The Dragon and the Princesses by Kyriakos Argiropoulos. This is a story about a princess and a dragon, in which the authors replaced the princess with another, and then again - to finally present a fair- tale about one dragon and many princesses.

Actor and director of Mostar Puppet Theatre Tibor Oreč said about the play: "This is primarily a dynamic, playful show. But, in its own beautiful way it teaches children that not all princesses are good, beautiful, noble and smart - just because they are princesses. Same as not all dragons are bad for just being dragons. Also, this play is a combination of noble humor, entertainment, and an ingredient every puppet show has – a valuable lesson to learn. It’s meant to teach the youngest something new and those of us that are a bit older - to remember the values that we - pressured by life’s various problems - may have forgotten".

In the companion program of the festival, promotions were held for books Puppet from Kindergarten to School Company: Puppetry handbook and a Collection of Plays by Branka Rudman (published by School Book) and 100 Years of Duško Radović by Zorica Hadžić (published by Mascom).

Children's radio channel Carousel Radio (broadcasting on RTS Planet digital platform) hosted a workshop at which the children could listen to short radio dramas and learn the difference between observing theatre and "listening to theatre".

As part of the cinema program at 11AM, Subotica Eurocinema theatre held a screening of the Belgian-German animated film Princess Latte and the Magical Waterstone.