Sand PitA creative playground, length 50 min

Four strangers enter a vast field of possibilities. They start building a fragile, shifting world, the grains of sand coming together to form a universe, time, creatures, landscapes, natural phenomena, moods and relationships, architecture and objects. These are made by designing, pouring, blowing, sweeping, treading, tracing, etching, drawing, funnelling, spilling, sowing, wiping, skipping, skidding, adding, removing, piling up, taking down, carrying away, bringing in ...

Bound by their shared activity and transformed by the new relationships, the strangers turn into diverse and distinguishable, brave and timid individuals, attentive observers, benevolent friends, fiery rivals, caring builders, resolute wreckers, short-lived companions, waiting outsiders, curious researchers. Obstinate exaggeration takes them down blind alleys, arrogant impudence leads to chaos, well-intentioned harmony down the road of development. The decision to form a common language as a foundation of coexistence results in agreements being made, rules being framed, and a shared course of life being outlined. The play in the sandpit grows into a metaphor for the birth and balancing of existence.

The sandpit as an active children’s playground encourages both cognitive and emotional development processes. The production illustrates the transition from children’s early solitary play, through parallel play, to associate play, where conflicts occasionally arise, and finally cooperative play, where children are working towards a common goal. On the conceptual level, and based on the elements of children’s play, the performance logic shows the birth and development of human civilisation – from the construction of physical space to the establishment of settlements and the introduction of a common system, a process requiring a large degree of creativity, innovation, and cooperation, all in the pursuit of a lasting peaceful coexistence.

Themes time – space – nature – development – creativity – community – play – sand – abstract theatre

Miha Golob is a theatre and puppet theatre director whose work on abstract puppet theatre productions has in recent years received a number of awards in Slovenia and internationally. His original projects often draw on the idea of researching and exploring materials that assign the audience an active, creative role. Having directed Aquarium for the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre in 2017, Golob continues his journey across analogue children’s playgrounds with the sandpit as a creative, social, and civilisational testing ground.

The production is part of the international Creative Europe-funded project Mapping.