The third day of the 29 th International Children's Theater Festival Subotica

Tian Gombau: for children, our puppet show is like an adventure

On Tuesday, September 20, the third day of the Subotica International Children's Theater Festival, three plays were performed in the competition program: "SCOOOOOTCH!" by the French theater Les noveaux ballets du Nord pas de Calais, "New Shoes" produced by Tian Gombau - The Drawn Man from Spain, and "Borsszem Janko" by the Puppet Theater "Béla Kövér" from Hungary.

The play "SCOOOOOTCH!" was performed on the "Jadran" Stage of the National Theatre. This is a performance that combines sound, movement and duct tape. Unraveling this sticky substance between the audience, themselves and the space, the three animators reveal an invisible network of relationships. Through the fun experience it creates, SCOOOOOTCH! and it also asks the questions: What shapes me? What am I made of? Am I the result of various encounters?

Amélie Poirier, author and director of the play, said about her concept: "We worked with adhesive tapes because we didn't want to work with puppets, but with materials. We think it is fun and playful for kids, they can experience these materials even if they don't touch them. We also work with a musician on stage that uses duct tape as a musical instrument, along with her voice”.

The play "New Shoes" was performed at the Subotica Children's Theater, and in this production the boy received new shoes and took them for a walk to the river. On his way, he discovers the world around him, while the shoes absorb all his experiences so he, step by step, grows. Shoe size follows us through the years - it reflects the length of our feet, but also maturity, experiences and the way we walk through our lives.

The main actor Tian Gombau said about the play: "I like the story because it is about tradition in the village where I grew up, and childhood memories. During the creation, we used very simple but beautiful scenery to convey the story. For children, this performance with puppets is like an adventure, and for others it is a reflection on the passage of time and growing up".

The play "Borsszem Janko" was performed in the National Theater on the "Jadran" Stage. This adaptation is based on a folk tale of Romanian Hungarians, and tries to take us down new paths through the genres of science fiction, anime and comics, with the help of puppet theater and musical instruments that do not limit the imagination.

Ágnes Kiss from the "Bela Kover" Theater described the process of working on the play: "For this play, we invited the director Sardar Tagirovsky to work with the ensemble and create something new. He directs in the theater, but he is not a puppet director, but an experimenter. That's why it was interesting to us how he dealt with puppet theater and actors". She said about the play itself: "This is not a story about heroism, but about a child and what childhood means. The scenography represents the universe, so that we remember how small we are compared to it".

The 15 th and 16 th issues of the magazine "Niti" for puppetry art, as well as the collection of works "Theatre for Children - an Artistic Phenomenon" (book 12) were presented at Hotel Patria. A three-day puppet therapy workshop "By Puppet to Peace - Puppetry in Therapy and Assessment" has also started, led by Ossa Viklund, a long-time practitioner and educator in the field from Gothenburg.

The film program presented the animated film "Maya Bee 3 - The Golden Orb" at the Eurocinema, and diverse artistic program was performed at the City Square.

On the fourth day of the Festival, on Wednesday, September 21, on the "Jadran" Stage of the National Theater, two performances will be performed in the Competition Program: "The Wolf Which Smelled of Berries" by the Children's Theater of Republika Srpska (10 a.m.) and "Broom… Brmm… Brmm…" by the Indonesian Bon Puppet Theater (5 p.m.). In the Children's Theater Subotica, the ensemble of this theater will perform the play "Love and the Violin" at noon, which is also part of the Competition Program.

The books "Little theatre Duško Radović - 70 Years of Diversity (monograph 1949-2019)" edited by Marijana Petrović, as well as the book "On Actor With a Puppet" by the same author, will be presented on Wednesday at 4 pm in Hotel Patria.

The creative workshop "Merry Company" with Sofija Simić, scheduled for September 21, deals with the puppet as a prop and means of communication in the theater.

As part of the film program, the Festival presents the animated film "Monster Family 2" at 11 a.m. at the Eurocinema, and from 5 p.m. will be performed a diverse artistic program at City Square.

All programs at the International Children's Theater Festival are open to all visitors and free of charge.