Letters from the Edge of the ForestDrama performance, length 50 min

A group of diverse animals, which are not usually found in the same forest, very much enjoy sending and receiving letters. But since Squirrel, Tiger, Hedgehog, Elephant and Tortoise cannot (yet) write, their correspondence is handled by Owl, who charges them a hefty fee for each letter written. One day, a letter appears in the sky, written not by the Owl, but by Mole, inviting all the inhabitants of the forest to her birthday party. The animals want to respond to Mole promptly to confirm their attendance, but they’ve run out of the food they use to pay Owl for the letters, and now Owl is only willing to help them at a very high interest rate. The animals decide to try to write a letter themselves, and so they slowly teach each other how to write, while Owl learns an important lesson about the preciousness of friendship.

The play Letters from the Edge of the Forest (Pisma na kraju šume) by the renowned Croatian writer, theatrologist, dramaturge and performer Jasna Žmak won the award for the best children's play at the Split festival Mali Marulič in 2017. In Croatia, the story, which flirts with the rich tradition of fables, has also been published as a picture book and adapted into an animated film. It has been translated and adapted into Slovenian by the writer and dramaturge Simona Hamer. 

The performance was directed by Anđelka Nikolić as her debut at the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre. Her performance concept is based on the word: "play". She believes that we should approach learning to read and write as a game to keep children entertained (at home, with their parents or guardians) before they enter school (and/or use phones and computers). An imaginative approach to learning letters, writing and language is the foundation for a didactic, yet artistically rich (dramatic) theatre play that explores the theme of communication (attempts), both at the level of content and performance.

Premiere: 28 November 2024, Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, Grand Stage

Jasna Žmak is a dramaturge, researcher, writer and psychodramatist. She is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Dramaturgy of the Academy of Dramatic Art Zagreb. She holds a PhD from the Faculty of Arts in Zagreb. Her works include the theatre texts “Samice” (2011) and “Istovremeno drugi” (2012), a scientific research article “Predavanje kao izvedba, izvedba kao predavanje – o proizvodnji znanja u umjetnosti” (2019) (Lecture as Performance, Performance as Lecture – Knowledge Production in Art), and a book of essays “One stvari - eseji o ženskoj seksualnosti” (2020) (Those Things – Essays on Female Sexuality). She is the author and performer of the play "this is my truth, tell me yours" (2023), which won the Grand Prix at the BITEF Festival in Belgrade in 2024. She is a member of the professional association SPID Savez scenarista i pisaca izvedbenih djela/Croatian Screenwriters and Playwrights Guild.

Anđelka Nikolić earned her Bachelor’s degree at the Faculty of Philology and the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. She has created over forty theatre performances and received many awards for directing, including the Sterija Award, the highest national recognition for theatre art in Serbia. She has directed a number of performances in Slovenia: Nekaj v zraku (Something in the Air) (V. Bartol, Permanent Slovene Theatre Trst), Da me je strah (Me, afraid?) (M. Krese, Prešeren Theatre Kranj), Antigone (Sofokles, Celje City Theatre), Pippi Longstocking (A. Lindgren, Celje City Theatre), Gulliver (based on J. Swift, Koper Theatre and National Theatre Rijeka), Nisi pozabila, samo ne spomniš se več (You Didn't Forget, You Just Don't Remember Anymore (S. Semenič, Glej Theatre and Integrali Cultural Association). She has co-authored dramatic texts Naj živi, živi delo (Long Live Labour!) with Milan Maković and Osvetljevanje umorov z zastrupitvijo v Čuprijskem okrožju v 70. letih 19. Stoletja (Shedding a Light on Murders with Poisoning in the Ćuprijska District in the 1970s). She translates from French and English. This will be her directorial debut at Ljubljana Puppet Theatre.

Simona Hamer is a self-employed dramaturge and dramatist who has been making valuable contributions to the Slovenian theatre scene for the past fifteen years. She has played a pivotal role as a dramaturge and co-author, collaborating on over thirty original theatre performances. Many of these works have garnered acclaim at prestigious festivals not only in Slovenia but also internationally. She is the author of the dramas Lovebirds (2008), Tick-tock (2009), C-o-u-n-t-i-n-g-r-h-y-m-e-s (2013), Silent Figures (2015), Postcards or Fear Is Only as Deep as the Mind Allows (2016), Roommates (2018), and Everything OK (2019). Doesn’t He Know Anything (2021) and a number of short dramas, adaptations, or dramatisations, among which The Self-Sown (based on the work by Prežihov Voranc, Ljubljana City Theatre, 2015), and Monsters (based on W. Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Mladinsko Theatre, 2017), The Fig Tree (Goran Vojnović, Slovenian National Theatre Drama, 2021), Me? Scared? (Maruša Krese, Prešeren Theatre Kranj, 2022). For Postcards or Fear Is Only as Deep as the Mind Allows she received the Grum Award for best drama text (2017). She received the same award in 2020 for Everything OK. Her libretto Roommates brought her the Gašper Tič Award in 2019. Her drama shave featured in printed publications (Dramober 2008, Dramober 2009, Zakon – III. branje/The Act, Third Reading, 2011), professional journals (Literatura, Teater der Zeit, Sodobnost), theatre programmes, and have been staged (as reading) outside Slovenia (the Sterijino pozorje Festival, Neue Stücken aus Europa Wiesbaden, Dramatiker_innen Festival Graz).