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Photo Jaka Varmuž

Kulturnica LGL

Length 45 min

Martin Mlakar

29c Kidrič Street 15+

Directors: Martin Mlakar, Tajda Lipicer

Object theatre

The only thing still alive in the apartment on the second floor on 29c Kidrič Street are memories. Memories that have no appeal to official history but rather mark another, personal history. Memories of a childhood friend. Memories embittered by guilt. Memories imprinted in the space and the objects in it. The apartment thus becomes a contemplative space, where objects cease to be mere possessions but become artefacts, silent but eloquent testimonies of a life.

Photo by Jaka Varmuž

Tunnel LGL

Length 50 min

Karolína Kotrbová, Gašper Lovrec, Filip Mramor, Jernej Potočan, Domen Novak

410 Kilometres 15+

Direction: Filip Mramor

Devised theatre

If history had revolved in a different direction by only a degree, the Czech engineer Karel Žlábek would have gone down in it as one of the greatest visionaries of his time. Not much is known about him, but he left behind him indelible dreams about a better future.

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Length 75 min

Based on Henrik Ibsen

A Doll's House (Festival LUTKE) 15+

Directors: Yngvild Aspeli, Paola Rizza

Festival première in co-production with Plexus Polaire (France, Norway)

Renowned Norwegian director Yngvild Aspeli, whose masterpiece Moby Dick mesmerised audiences at Cankarjev dom in November 2021, returns to the Puppet Festival and to Cankarjev dom with a performance based on A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. The Slovenian première of the performance will feature Maja Kunšič, the leading actress of the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre ensemble, in the role of Nora.

Photo: Nika Hölcl

Small Stage LGL

Length 30 min

A Mouse Called Julian 3+

Director: Asja Kahrimanović

Puppetry performance based on the picture book by Joe Todd-Stanton

A Mouse Called Julian (2019) is a picture book about a reclusive mouse called Julian by Waterstones Children's Book Prize-winning author and illustrator Joe Todd-Stanton. The mouse prefers to spend his days alone rather than in the company of his neighbours and other residents of his neighbourhood. And he absolutely loves it. But everything changes when a fox accidentally falls into his flat.

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Stage Under the Stars

Justina Jukonytė

About the World (Festival LUTKE) 1+

Vilnius Theatre “Lėlė” (Lithuania)

Visual design: Neringa Keršulytė

Puppetry performance, in Slovenian with English translation

About the World is inspired by one of the oldest myths about the origin of the world.

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Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 60 min

Rosa A. García

Among Boxes (prefestival LUTKE) 3+

Paraíso Theatre (Spain)

Direction: Tomás Fdez. Alonso

Drama performance, in Spanish with Slovenian and English surtitles

In this production, the world becomes a big box in which we can experience great adventures.

Foto Jaka Varmuž

Stage Under the Stars

Length 35 min

Tone Pavček

Angels 3+

Director and choreographer: Mala Kline

Staged poetry

Angels ('Angeli', 2012) was the last volume of poetry by one of Slovenia's most celebrated contemporary poets, Tone Pavček (1928-2011). This literary testament rounded off an extraordinary body of work whirling with verses of life, love and fidelity.

Aquarium, foto: Urška Boljkovac

Kulturnica LGL

Length 40 min

Miha Golob

Director: Miha Golob

Aquatic adventure

In the beginning there is nothing. Like an empty piece of paper, just a moment before it is touched by a pencil or a crayon. And everything is still possible. Then comes a cracking sound and an egg suddenly hatches out of the mist – a tiny little creature, yearning for a cosy home, friends, adventures and the whole colourful World …

Jaka Babnik/SLG Celje

Length 135 min

Živa Bizovičar, Nik Žnidaršič

Assault 15+

Slovensko ljudsko gledališče Celje

Director: Živa Bizovičar

Original project based on the life and work of Karel Destovnik - Kajuh

The poet, translator and national hero Karel Destovnik – Kajuh was born in Šoštanj and died at the Žlebnik homestead in Šentvid nad Zavodnjami. He was shot by a militiaman of Slovene nationality, France Černe, during a raid by German soldiers and militiamen. He was the only Slovenian cultural figure to be declared a national hero in July 1953.

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Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 30 min

Baby esferic 0.5+

Puppetry performance, non verbal, guest performance from Aboon Teatro (Spain)

BABY ESFERIC is a tribute to the Earth. It talks about the magic that unites us to the planet and its inhabitants through different stories and landscapes. Aimed at babies from 6 months to 6 years, will delight the whole family. Without text, with a very visual language, a white sphere is the protagonist, and it is transformed into different landscapes and nice animals. Everything is round. Its aesthetic, minimalist and delicately visual, gives freedom to the imagination of the spectator. BABY ESFERIC captures the magic of the earth, at baby's pace.

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Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 45 min

based on Marko Sosič

Ballerina, Ballerina (Festival LUTKE) 10+

Director: Jūratė Trimakaitė

Festival première in co-production with Le Tas de Sable – Ches Panses Vertes (France)

The puppet performance based on Marko Sošić’s novel Ballerina, Ballerina will be directed by the young award-winning Lithuanian director Jūratė Trimakaitė. The performance is being crafted as part of the French production, while the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre will co-produce its Slovenian version, which will be premièred at the 17th International Biennial Festival of Contemporary Puppetry Art Lutke.

Barley And The Boat

Grand Stage LGL

Length 30 min

Anja Štefan

Barley and the Boat 3+

Director: Barbara Bulatović

Puppet performance

Barley lives near the lake. He plays on its shores every day. He floats his tiny boats on the lake and wishes to have a real boat ...

Photo: Jaka Varmuž

Grand Stage LGL

Length 45 min

Sebastijan Pregelj and Igor Šinkovec

Bear and Piggy 3+

Director: Mare Bulc

Puppetry performance

From Cicido children’s magazine to the theatre stage—Bear and Piggy are here to entertain the youngest audiences in a puppet performance. Bear and Piggy are best friends who live together in a tiny house on the top of a skyscraper next to their favourite playground.

Big-Eyes the Little Owl, foto Jaka Varmuž

Grand Stage LGL

Length 45 min

Svetlana Makarovič

Big-Eyes the Little Owl 3+

Director: Brane Vižintin

Marionette performance

Big-Eyes the Little Owl is the first work that Svetlana Makarovič wrote for children and also her first work staged at the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre. It was directed by Matjaž Loboda and premiered in 1972, bringing a pleasant and welcome refreshment to the repertoire, which at the time consisted mostly of foreign works. It was only thereafter that the most important Slovenian writers also started writing puppet plays. Makarovič created a sweet, nice and poetic story about a little whimsical owl called Big-Eyes, who decides she no longer wants to be an ordinary, nocturnal bird, but a day owl. The Moon tries to dissuade her, but to no avail. In the morning when the owl family crawls into bed, Big-Eyes puts on her sunglasses and boisterously flies into the bright day. On her journey, she meets a number of animals and has numerous adventures – also dangerous ones!

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Grand Stage LGL

Length 60 min

Matija Solce

Bonbonjera Variete! 8+

Creator of objects and puppets, set and costume designer: Tomaš Žižka

Puppet and musical cabaret, guest performance from Rijeka City Puppet Theatre

Performed in Croatian, Rijeka dialect and Slovenian.

Catch me!

Small Stage LGL

Length 30 min

Saša Eržen

Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana and Umetniško društvo Konj

Director: Silvan Omerzu

Puppet performance

A comedy with running and singing designed for the youngest audience and directed by a versatile puppet artist Silvan Omerzu, features an artistically purified, musically inspiring, playful and dynamic work. A simple, modular stage assembly, with wooden puppets and props, unfolds before the viewers an exciting and - until the performance’s very ending - interesting competition between the two neighbours, who eventually become friends. Its witty text was contributed by the writer of the younger generation Saša Eržen, whose picture book »The One about the Fleas« ranked her among the five finalists for the Original Slovenian Picture Book Award.

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Length 15 min

Children-Spectators 3+

Illustration exhibition

Children-Spectators is an exhibition of illustrations by renowned artists created as part of Creative Europe's project Mapping.

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Gledališče Glej

Pavla Dombrovská, with the help of Luděk Vémola

Crippletrek (Festival LUTKE) 15+

Líšeň Theatre (Czech Republic)

Set, light, sound design: Luděk Vémola, with the help of Pavla Dombrovská

Puppetry performance, in Czech with Slovenian and English surtitles

A strange rebellion against powerlessness, death and a life of misery.

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Grand Stage LGL

Length 55 min

Jakub Vašíček

Čáslavská Tokyo 1964 (prefestival LUTKE) 9+

Alfa Theatre (Czech Republic) & PUK Tokyo Puppet Theatre (Japan)

Japanese translation: Yoko Yamaguchi, Nanako Ishida

Puppetry show, in Czech and Japanese with Slovenian and English surtitles

A Czech-Japanese production that tells the story of one of the most famous Czech sportswomen of all time, the gymnast Věra Čáslavská.

Photo Jaka Varmuž

Kulturnica LGL

Length 75 min

Matija Solce

Director, adaptation and author of music: Matija Solce

Object Theatre

Darkroom is an object-music cabaret based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Steadfast Tin Soldier, which is considered one of his most famous stories, but also the first one not based on a literary source or a folk tale. It thus marks the beginning of the author's original creative period. It was written almost 200 years ago and has been adapted numerous times, including for ballet performances and films.

Photo by Matej Povše

Length 35 min

Isabel Minhós Martins

Don't Cross the Line 5+

Director: Katja Povše

A live-action puppet production

Don't Cross the Line is a theatrical thriller of constant trial and loss. The stage has been commandeered by General Big Eye, who has refused entry to puppets and actors – for good.

Duck, Death and the Tulip, foto: Miha Fras

Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 40 min

Wolf Erlbruch

Duck, Death and the Tulip 5+

Director: Fabrizio Montecchi

Shadow performance

Duck, Death and the Tulip is a gentle, friendly and discreet staging, confronting children with death without any embellishment or pathos, but rather through a refined sense of delicacy of the selected topic. The narrative about illness, departing and lost comes to life on the stage as a warm and vital story about the preciousness of closeness and friendship. It is a suggestive fusion of live acting, animation and shadow theatre, visually attracting and astonishing children and at the same time unobtrusively caressing them and presenting them with a thought about the transience and vulnerability of life.

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Grand Stage LGL

Length 50 min

Ha To

Dude! Lato! where is the light 1.5+

Director: Tomáš Volkmer

Puppet show

Hosted by the Puppet Theatre from Ostrava.

Emil and the Detectives, foto: Gregor Gobec

Grand Stage LGL

Length 70 min

Erich Kästner

Emil and the Detectives 6+

Director: Ajda Valcl

A detective story

The performance Emil and the Detectives is based on a novel for children by the German writer Erich Kästner (1899–1974) who is certainly acknowledged as one of the most widely read children’s writers. The novel, which was first published in 1929, is Kästner’s first and also most popular children’s book. It was translated into more than 60 languages and has already seen quite a number of stage and film adaptations, the last one premiered in Germany in 2001.

Foto Nada Žgank

Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 70 min

Nataša Živković

Everything is alright 15+

Coproduction: Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana in Mesto žensk

Concept and assistance: Tea Hvala, Teja Reba

Gledališki laboratorij

In 2021, the year of lockdowns, the high school students selected at the audition studied school as an institution. They were interested in the established school order and its effect on their growing up.

Foto Jaka Varmuž

Grand Stage LGL

Length 45 min

Anja Štefan

Fairy Tales for Ants 3+

Director: Martina Maurič Lazar

Puppet performance

The performance Four Black Ants – a theatre adaptation of a collection of short stories by Anja Štefan, this year’s recipient of the Prešeren Fund Award – premiered on the Small Stage LGL in 2014.

Four Black Ants, foto: Urška Boljkovac

Small Stage LGL

Length 35 min

Anja Štefan

Four Black Ants 3+

Director: Martina Maurič Lazar

Puppet performance

Four Black Ants is a set of short parables about four little ants that contains just the right amount of everything – poetry, humour, rhythm, words, rhymes, heartiness and wisdom. They are full of little pleasures and funny adventures, inciting meditative reflections and arousing reactions with their clever sting.

Photo: Borut Bučinel

Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 45 min

Nebojša Pop-Tasić

Director and choreographer: Sebastjan Starič

Dream Musical

A musical performance taking us on a journey into the poetic world of dreams and cheerful night-time illusions with which the full moon is teasing a “sleeping” family of four.

Foto Jaka Varmuž

Small Stage LGL

Length 40 min

Tin Grabnar and Ana Duša

Gallop 5+

Director: Tin Grabnar

Shadow performance

Gallop follows the story of a boy living on a farm near the city, where, in addition to other domestic animals, they also have a young horse. One day, the boy and his family visit a fair, where he unexpectedly sees horse races. The winner receives a big gleaming trophy! This triggers in him an irresistible desire to win. Fostered by the ambition to lift the winner’s trophy one day, he starts training hard with his horse. The performance addresses the meaning of friendship in contrast with the irresistible desire to win. How much is it worth sacrificing to achieve your goal?

Photo by Jaka Varmuž

Stage Under the Stars

Length 60 min

Špela Frlic, Maruša Kink

Director: Maruša Kink

A children's adventure based on the novel by Špela Frlic

Glitterton is a well-kept residential area with benches and a playground. Beyond Glitterton lies Wild Glitterton, and the people of Glitterton don't go there! They prefer to watch the birds and chat on their playground.

Goodbye, foto Jana Jocif

Kulturnica LGL

Length 30 min

Ulf Nilsson

Directed and Visually Designed by: Jasna Vastl

A puppet miniature about the passing away

Once upon a time Mr. August was young and strong, but now he is old and tired. Most of the time, he just seats and thinks about his life. In his life he had a wife Victoria, who was as black as night and as beautiful as a sunny day, six small, roguish children, three cuddles a day, 728 cucumbers … and also a letter or two in his mailbox, from time to time. Every morning, Mr August carefully checks his mail. Even when he feels very bad.

Goose the Bear, foto: Urška Boljkovac

Small Stage LGL

Length 35 min

Katja Gehrmann

Goose the Bear 2+

Director: Ivana Djilas

Puppet mix-up

Goose the Bear is a seemingly simple mix-up. One day a little gosling hatches out of a lost egg. From the first moment the little creature is absolutely convinced that it is a bear, since the very first thing it sees is the Bear's face. Hidden behind the tale's letters and imaginary forest's trees are some essential questions about coexistence and accepting of others. Is everything that seems different really so different from us? How much of our time and attention we are ready to dedicate to relationships with other people? Goose the Bear is a story about tolerance and acceptance of diversity.

Illustration by Eva Jera Hanžek

Length 80 min

Max Porter

Grief is the Thing with Feathers 15+

Director: Luka Marcen

Puppetry-drama performance based on the work by Max Porter

The performance, tailored for young adults and adults, presents a theatrical interpretation of Max Porter's literary masterpiece debut. It invites us into the metaphorical realm of grief and remembrance, exploring the kaleidoscope of Porter’s perspectives and sounds through a fusion of drama, objects and puppets.

Foto Teatro Matita

Tunnel LGL

Length 50 min

Matija Solce and Daniil Harms

Harms fault! 15+

Nonsense theatrical puppet concert on prepared accordion

“An old woman fell out of the window because she was too curious. She fell and broke into pieces.”

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Small Stage LGL

Length 40 min

Bori Mezo, Ella Mackay, Eti Meacock

Hopeful Monsters (Festival LUTKE) 5+

Hopeful Monsters (United Kingdom)

Music: Michael Hyland

Puppetry performance, non verbal

Hopeful Monsters is a playful exploration of all living things that are made up of the same basic elements.

Photo Jaka Varmuž

Small Stage LGL

Length 45 min

How Mister Felix Entered a Bicycle Race 3+

Puppet production

How Mister Felix Entered a Bicycle Race is the story of a local eccentric who enters a cycle race on a whim. Instead of a racing bicycle, he rides a small, borrowed city bike, and rather than victory, he pursues pleasure – in riding, drinking lemonade, taking a dip in cold water, enjoying the beautiful day.

Photo: Urška Boljkovac

Stage Under the Stars

Length 45 min

Jera Ivanc

In Good Hands 3+

Director: Jakub Maksymov

Puppet show

Mila, her father and mother come to visit her grandmother, who is celebrating her birthday. But oh dear! —they have left the suitcase with the presents at the train station and the cake at home in the fridge. While her parents go fetch the forgotten birthday essentials, Mila is left to her own ingenuity and imagination. She decides to bake the cake herself and thus the adventure begins. A recipe book, a fall from an apple tree into the arms of her grandfather's memories, a visit to a noisy henhouse, a dark attic and an old apiary are fun stops on Mila's journey to her sweet destination. And at the same time, opportunities to explore the environment, nature, society and memories.

JAŠA: REQUIEM

Hiša Tartini

Length 60 min

JAŠA

JAŠA: REQUIEM 15+

Piran Self-Governing Community of Italian Nationals, Piran Coastal Galleries

Curator: Laura Rositani

Exhibition and Event

at Tartini House, Piran

Foto: Sabina Plaznik (Bina Vista)

Botanični vrt

Length 30 min

Pripovedovanje

Kamišibaj je edinstvena japonska oblike pripovedovanja zgodb ob slikah na miniaturnem lesenem odru, ki občinstvu ponuja bolj intimno gledališko-pripovedovalsko izkušnjo. Gre za izvirno in mojstrsko risano pripovedno izrazno formo, s katero se je ansambel Lutkovnega gledališča Ljubljana pod mentorstvom Jelene Sitar srečal med zaprtjem gledališč. V tem času so pripravil več različnih pripovedi, s katerimi so nato gostovali v različnih krajih in na festivalih ter prejeli nekaj nagrad.

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Grand Stage LGL

Length 50 min

Based on the play by Júlio Vanzeler.

Kitsune (Festival LUTKE) 12+

Porto Puppet Theatre (Portugal)

Direction and set design: Rui Queiroz de Matos, Júlio Vanzeler

Puppetry performance, non verbal

Kitsune is a tribute to life, a reconnection with simplicity, play, love, the pleasure found in the small everyday tasks.

Illustration by Eva Jera Hanžek

Length 60 min

Jasna Žmak

Letters from the Edge of the Forest 4+

Director: Anđelka Nikolić

Drama performance

Letters from the Edge of the Forest is a story by renowned Croatian writer and theatrologue Jasna Žmak, which in 2017 received the Mali Marulić Award for the best dramatic text for children. In Croatia, the text was adapted into both a picture book and an animated film. Translated and adapted by writer Simona Hamer, the text will be directed by Serbian director Anđelka Nikolić, marking her directorial debut at the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre.

Illustration by Eva Jera Hanžek

Length 45 min

Enrica Carini, Fabrizio Montecchi

Little Lessons of Wonder 11+

Director: Fabrizio Montecchi

Shadow performance

The performance unveils the world through the eyes of Rachel Carson, American biologist and zoologist and a pivotal figure in launching the global environmental movement, intertwining her personal story with her revolutionary ideas.

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Small Stage LGL

Length 50 min

Brice Coupey, Jean Luc Ponthieux

Little Stories Without Words (Festival LUTKE) 5+

L'Alinea (France)

Direction: Alain Recoing, Pierre Blaise, Christian Remer

Puppetry performance, non verbal

Little Stories Without Words consists of three miniatures in which animator Brice Coupey, accompanied by contrabassist Jean-Luc Ponthieux, creates a world full of poetry, humour and surprise.

Photo by Jaka Varmuž

Tunnel LGL

Length 45 min

William Shakespeare

Macbeth 15+

Director and visual designer: Matteo Spiazzi

A rusty performance

Following Hamlet (2006), Romeo & Juliet (2011), The Merchant of Venice (2015) and The Tempest (2016), this production is likewise a rendition of one of William Shakespeare’s most important texts in world drama that we are adding to our repertoire as a puppet production. Macbeth is aimed at audiences aged 15 and over.

Make Me a Coffin For Him, foto Jaka Varmuž

Kulturnica LGL

Length 30 min

Make Me a Coffin For Him 15+

Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana and Umetniško društvo Konj

Director: Jan Zakonjšek

Tragic Cheerful Puppet Performance

The play Make Me a Coffin for Him from 1993 represents an anthology of the nineties, since it features, as Barbara Orel wrote, "primal iconography, infernal content and demonic energy; it is, in a word—diabolical."

Martin Krpan, foto Jaka Varmuž

Grand Stage LGL

Fran Levstik

Martin Krpan 5+

Director: Tin Grabnar

A Wild Puppet Adventure

The text for the wild puppet adventure Martin Krpan is based on the folk tale by Fran Levstik, published in The Slovene Herald (Slovenski glasnik) 160 years ago. Throughout its history the famous story about a courageous, strong, lucid, ordinary and modest hero lived to see many of its reprints, adaptations, illustrations, radio plays, theatre adaptations, and even an animated cartoon film. Although he was well aware of the fact that the then mostly illiterate, ordinary Slovenian people needed a simple story about a peasant hero, whom they could understand and identify with, Levstik, when conceiving his tale, succeeded not to fall into an unambiguous writing.

Photo by Sara Horžen

Tunnel LGL

Length 90 min

Sara Horžen, Varja Hrvatin

Merry-Go-Round 15+

Interactive performance

Horse, elephant, monkey, cow, pig, squirrel. Words in themselves carry no meaning until they are consumed in verbal games. The tossing of words up, down, left, right in an endless swirl between the public and the private creates a carousel of (in)acceptable, (in)correct, (non)problematic expressions.

Photo by Jaka Varmuž

Kulturnica LGL

Length 75 min

Klemen Kovačič, Nik Žnidaršič

In every house, there is a place without a special purpose. It is where we put away what we no longer need, but are not yet ready to admit that to ourselves. It is a space (be it a room, a drawer or just a box) where we leave memories that we don't trust to stay in our minds. They seem too fragile. Eternally elusive, but so important. Who are we without them? And who are we with them?

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Waldorfska šola - učilnica

Length 60 min

Arwel Gruffydd

Mittagspause (Prefestival LUTKE) 12+

Landesbünen Sachsen (Germany) and Genedlaethol Cymru Theatre (UK)

Set design and Costume design: Susi Schwichtenberg

Drama performance, in German with Slovenian and English subtitles

Anja and Kati have the task of presenting Lusatian culture in Saxony to the class.

Photo Christophe Raynaud de Lage

Length 90 min

Herman Melville

Plexus Polaire (Francija)

Directed by: Yngvild Aspeli

Musical-puppetry spectacle

Moby Dick is a puppet-musical spectacle for young audiences by internationally acclaimed Norwegian director Yngvild Aspeli, inspired by the timeless 1851 classic by American writer Herman Melville. The thrilling story of the hunt for the great white whale is one of the greatest works of world literature. It is the story of a sailor waging war against a creature as large, dangerous and unknown as the sea itself. Who will win? Man or nature?

Mojca and the Animals, Foto: Urška Boljkovac

Small Stage LGL

Length 45 min

Eka and Brina Vogelnik

Mojca and the Animals 3+

Director: Eka Vogelnik

Marionette show

Mojca and the Animals is one of our oldest and most popular folk tales, especially among our youngest viewers. It not only reflects the spirit of the time, but also brings us back to our roots. The famous fairy tale, first published back in 1954, tells about an innocent Rabbit who is wrongly convicted and persecuted till the end of his days for a simple reason that he is the smallest and the weakest member of society. On the other side, there is this canny little Fox, who cheats everyone, and yet is never held responsible for it. Presented to us on stage this time, is a new Mojca, who defines the spirit of our time through her relationships.

My Grandfather was a Cherry Tree, photo Jaka Varmuž

Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 45 min

Angela Nanetti

My Grandfather was a Cherry Tree 5+

Directed by: Fabrizio Montecchi

Shadow puppet performance

“I can hear it, grandpa, I can hear it...” says Tonino when his grandfather asks him to close his eyes and listen to the cherry tree breathing. Tonino hears the rustle of leaves in the wind, the groan of branches, the singing of birds—he hears life...

Open the Owl

Stage Under the Stars

Length 50 min

Franz Pocci, Célia Houdart

Open the Owl 15+

Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, TJP – Centre Dramatique National d’Alsace, Strasbourg (France)

Director: Renaud Herbin

Intermedia interpretation of The Castle of Owls (1936)

The performance Open the Owl brings back to stage the miniature characters from the performance Sovji grad (The Owl Castle), created by Slovenian puppeteer Milan Klemenčič back in 1936. (french subtitles)

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Grand Stage LGL

Length 45 min

Rauxa

Paper Theatre (Festival LUTKE) 3+

Rauxa (Spain)

Direction and dramaturgy: Xavi Sánchez, Analía Serenelli

Puppetry performance, non verbal

Paper Theatre is a contemporary circus performance that uses the animation of paper objects, clowning and physical theatre to harness the power of imagination to alleviate the burden of loneliness and make space for poetic and dreamlike spaces.

Peter Pan, foto Jaka Varmuž

Stage Under the Stars

Length 75 min

Jera Ivanc according to the text Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Director: Yulia Roschina

Dramatic performance

Peter Pan is a tale of never-ending childhood. The main hero’s greatest wish is to remain a child forever, as he is convinced that growing up robs people off their imagination and makes them boring. Peter Pan is also one of the most known and famous fairy tales that revolves around the eternal theme of growing up, discovering of new sensations and accepting responsibilities. It is, at the same time, rounded up by a great deal of magic and symbolism. The young hero doesn't want to grow old, he doesn't even want to grow up. Instead he wants to fly, fight with Captain Hook and explore the Neverland. This clever and lively boy has been conquering children's imaginations and hearts all over the world for more than hundred years, since his character has been revived in many films, musicals, plays and books.

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Stara mestna elektrarna - Elektro Ljubljana

Length 70 min

Alice Laloy

Pinocchio(live)#3 (Festival LUTKE) 12+

La Compagnie S'Appelle Reviens (France)

Music: Éric Recordier

Visual theatre, non verbal

In Carlo Collodi's story, a small wooden puppet wants to become human. In Alice Laloy's play, the opposite happens.

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Stage Under the Stars

Length 35 min

Ewa Maria Wolska

Pomelo's in Love ... With the Frog, Rain and More (Festival LUTKE) 2+

Fraktal Theatre (Poland)

Music: Maciej Staniecki

Puppetry performance, non verbal

Pomelo’s in Love … With the Frog, Rain and More is a concert performance for children, based on the motives of Ramona Bădescu and Benjamin Chaudo.

Rabbit’s House, foto Jaka Varmuž

Small Stage LGL

Length 35 min

Anja Štefan

Rabbit’s House 3+

Director: Martina Maurič Lazar

Puppet performance

Rabbit’s House is a story that reminds us how each of us can sometimes be in need and without a roof over his or her head and how nice and important it is to help each other whenever such unfortunate situations occur. In our story Frog, Squirrel, Badger and Bear unite their forces to help Little Rabbit who has lost his home.

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Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 55 min

Astrid Lindgren

Ronia, the Robber's Daughter (Festival LUTKE) 7+

Theatre for Children and Youth Skopje (North Macedonia)

Direction and dramatisation: Jakub Maksymov

Puppetry performance, in Macedonian with Slovenian and English surtitles

This story by the astonishing and world-famous Swedish author Astrid Lindgren takes us into a whole new world full of bandits, mushroom goblins, wild forests and adventurous landscapes.

Photo: Urška Boljkovac

Grand Stage LGL

Length 50 min

Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler

Room on the Broom 3+

Director: Jaka Ivanc

Puppet performance

Room on the Broom is yet another hit, written by Scottish writer Julia Donaldson, who is an old acquaintance of Puppet Theatre, and her loyal collaborator - German illustrator -, Axel Scheffler. They are also the authors of the famous picture book The Gruffalo and its no less popular sequel The Gruffalo's Child.In their new adventure we will embark again on a journey to the world of animals, only this time the place of the almost dreadful Gruffalo will be taken by anything but an evil Witch, and, consequently by a far more dangerous and hungry Dragon.

Photo: Urška Boljkovac

Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 50 min

Samson and Roberto: Baywatch 9+

Adaptation: Nika Bezeljak, Maša Radi Buh

Puppetry performance based on the book series by Ingvar Ambjørnsen

The puppet show Samson & Roberto: Baywatch is based on the adaptation of two books from the series Samson & Roberto by the Norwegian writer Ingvar Ambjørnsen, The Inheritance of Uncle Rin-Tin-Tei (Arven etter onkel Rin-Tin-Tei) and Fiery Friends (Krakilske kamerater), which are also on the list of recommended books for the Slovenian Reading Badge.

Photo Jaka Varmuž

Stage Under the Stars

Length 50 min

Miha Golob

Directed and designed by: Miha Golob

A creative playground

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 ...

Sapramouse

Grand Stage LGL

Length 40 min

Svetlana Makarovič

Director: Nace Simončič / Brane Vižintin

Puppetheque performance

The most famous Slovenian marionette is Sapramouse. Slovenian children could not even imagine growing up without the fairy tales, written by Svetlana Makarovič. Over the years there has been a myriad of puppet performances based on her literary material that have enchanted our young viewers. The clever and brave Sapramouse is considered the greatest Slovenian puppet hit ever. It’s best known staging was the one premiered back in 1986 in the Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana (and directed by Nace Simončič) that has remained uninterruptedly on the theatre’s repertoire until today. Sapramouse is a true testament of the fact that today's children can be attracted by far less spectacular creations from the ones including modern technology; only they have to be convincing both in terms of their texts and realization. The popular show that has lived to see a record number of replays (almost 1.700), has had travelled more than halfway around the world.

Scritch Scratch Scraww Plop!

Small Stage LGL

Length 40 min

Kitty Crowther

Scritch Scratch Dip Clapote! 3+

Director: Ivana Djilas

Puppet performance

Aimed at the very youngest viewers, Scritch Scratch Dip Clapote! is a tender fairy tale that weaves together strong emotions and rich imagination. A Frog named Jerko is afraid of going to sleep; what is that sound—scritch scratch scraww plop—that keeps coming from under his bed? Jerko's father tries to reassure him that there is nothing to be afraid of—until he himself goes to lie in the bed, only to be woken up in the night by the same mysterious sound.

Seal, Photo Jaka Varmuž

Grand Stage LGL

Length 55 min

Matija Solce

Seal 3+

Director and Composer: Matija Solce

Lapland Tales in Music and Paper

Every person, animal and thing has a soul. This understanding is possessed, for the most part, by those forgotten but still living peoples who, however inscrutable they seem to us, hold in their hands the threads of the collective unconscious of cultural memory. The Seal is a play based on the motifs of Lapp folktales and the ethnic heritage of this disappearing culture. They tell us and make us recognise that there are modes of communication other than language.

Foto Jaka Varmuž

Stage Under the Stars

Length 105 min

Simona Semenič

Secret Society KRVZ 6+

Director: Mare Bulc

An Adventure Detective Story

One evening, as Črt is going to bed, he spots a mysterious shadow and thinks it is a dragon. He is not wrong. On that same evening, the twins Kaj and Iza find a mysterious map, which they show to Vid, Črt's best friend. And just like that, the four 11-year-olds find themselves in the middle of a thrilling adventure.

Secret Society PGC, foto: Urška Boljkovac

Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 80 min

Anton Ingolič, Nebojša Pop Tasić

Secret Society PGC 8+

Director: Marko Bulc - Mare

Dramatic performance

Secret Society PGC is a legendary text and children's classic story, written by Slovenian writer Anton Ingolič in 1958. He was one of the first post-war authors, who, inspired by the real life of young people in that period of time, addressed their topical issues through depicting their unusual adventures. Thus many generations of children used to grow up along with the very popular and famous Society of Pingoclavulus - or shortened PGC. This modern re-interpretation of the Secret Society PGC was staged in our theatre for the first time.

Session Bulgakov, foto Jaka Varmuž

Tunnel LGL

Length 60 min

Matija Solce

Session Bulgakov 15+

Puppet-object brain-storming

Session Bulgakov is a reconstruction of the novel, set up on the dynamics of contrasts between burlesque and abstract images of object theatre, which remained on the ruins of the confusion, left behind by Satan and his accomplices. In its fragmentation and through the rhytmization of words, gestures and sounds it combines the associations on today’s obsessed world and the tragic side of everyman with his problems, fears and desires. A trio of actors, animators and musicians puts the spectators into the role of witnesses and eyewitnesses to specific events, leading them through some originally interpreted pictures of the novel at a dynamic pace.

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Grand Stage LGL

Length 35 min

Sarah Chaudon, Clara Palau y Herrero, Tobias Tönjes

Shades of Shadows (Festival LUTKE) 4+

TANGRAM Collective (Germany)

Visual design and cast: Sarah Chaudon, Clara Palau y Herrero

Shadow performance, non verbal

Shades of Shadows consists of three white canvases, a table, a small piano, a few objects and two lamps.

Photo: Miha Fras

Preddverje Velikega odra LGL ...

Length 90 min

Shame on You 15+

Intermedia performance

Shame on You is a performance of endless scrolling and content generation, avatars, emojis, trap, stand-up, music videos and stories that seeks a space without shame at the intersection of the virtual, the fairytale and the present.

Somewhere Else, photo: Jaka Varmuž

Tunnel LGL

Length 45 min

Zala Dobovšek, Nina Šorak, Tin Grabnar, Asja Kahrimanović Babnik

Somewhere Else 7+

Director: Tin Grabnar

Animated chalkboard tale

The performance tells us about a little girl, who finds herself caught in the middle of the war. It is through her eyes that we observe her changing city, filled with horrors, violence and fear. But, hope too. Threatening planes are flying over the city, the streets are empty and there is no food left on the shelves in the store. The school is closed. And every now and then gunshots are heard nearby. Her environment gradually changes …And becomes intolerable. The little girl’s only wish is to go to another country, where it would be much nicer. She wants to go somewhere else, somewhere far away from the war atrocities. »I woke up this morning, washed my teeth as usually, ate my breakfast and went to school. Everything was pretty much as usual. And only yesterday I played with my friends in the backyard as well. Everything is different now. I am not allowed to go to the backyard any more. It is too dangerous. And when the thunder is heard, I must run to the basement with my mother. I don’t see my friends any more either. And the school is over. They just closed it.«

Spotty the Ball, foto Ada Hamza

Grand Stage LGL

Length 45 min

Jan Malík

Speckles the Ball 3+

A Puppetheque Performance

In 1936, Czech puppeteer Jan Malík created one of the most frequently performed puppet plays in the world. In 1951, the performance and its now cult marionettes were first presented to the audience in the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, under the direction of Jože Pengov, which changed the hitherto puppet art in terms of its content, as well as dramaturgical and technical approach. With her visual design Ajša Pengov set up a new criterion as in the marionettes proportions as well as in their characterisation. The then newest technical acquisition – the conveyor belt – introduced the so called “dramaturgy of travelling”.

Still Life

Stage Under the Stars

Length 60 min

Tin Grabnar, Tjaša Bertoncelj

Directed by: Tin Grabnar

Nine Attempts to Preserve Life

With its form and content, Tin Grabnar’s performance Still Life addresses the evasive question of the phenomenon of life. What is the inner force that we call life? What is life like? How to understand the phenomenon and way of existence and its opposite—death? And finally, what does it mean to take this life away? By exploring these questions, a sensible performance language takes shape—one that addresses fundamental questions of the existence of animals and at the same time strives to engender respect in the audience for all that we refer to as being alive.

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Length 30 min

Antonin Lebrun

Terror (Festival LUTKE) 15+

Les Yeux Creux (France)

Light and sound management: Romane Rosser

Puppetry performance, non verbal

Terror is first and foremost an image of absolute suffering.

Photo Mankica Kranjec

Stage Under the Stars

Length 75 min

Jaša Koceli, Júlia Sándor

The Amazons 12+

Director: Jaša Koceli

Theatrical archaeology

We were raised to view the Amazon women as mythical warriors of ancient times, who can be at the same time strong, independent, deadly and desirable, as the supernatural society of mighty women woven from the thread of imagination. But what if they were real?

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Length 60 min

Olivier de Sagazan

The Donkey's Mass (Festival LUTKE) 15+

Ipsul (France)

Directing assistance: Anas Sareen

Visual theatre, non verbal

The Donkey's Mass is inspiring and energising. It makes us see and dream, sometimes to the point of nightmares.

The Four Musicians

Grand Stage LGL

Length 50 min

Matija Solce

The Four Musicians 3+

Director: Matija Solce

Puppet performance

This well known folk tale of the musicians of Bremen gave Matija Solce, an established puppet artist, foundation for a vivacious and friendly performance, which combines puppets and music. As they do in the fairy-tale, the four animals make a journey, and they surprise the town folk with their music.

The Gruffalo, foto: Urška Boljkovac

Grand Stage LGL

Length 40 min

Julia Donaldson - Milan Dekleva

The Gruffalo 3+

Director: Jaka Ivanc

Puppet performance

The Mouse heads for the woods to find a hazelnut. There the predators lie in wait for him. But he knows exactly what to do. To turn them away, he makes up a story about a Gruffalo. Apparently the Gruffalo adores foxes, owl ice cream with juice and roasted snakes. And yes, his Gruffalo is so dreadful that the Mouse becomes the most important animal in the forest. But if he really wants to get his breakfast, he has to deal with the Gruffalo as well. He suddenly finds the Mouse yummy himself. No way, that won’t be so easy, pal! The Gruffalo was in fact a very special creature, invented by the Mouse to frighten the other animals. And now he suddenly appears in flesh! Will the Mouse be resourceful enough to beat him as well?

The Gruffalo's Child, foto: Miha Fras

Grand Stage LGL

Length 40 min

Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler

The Gruffalo's Child 3+

Director: Jaka Ivanc

Puppet performance

The Gruffalo’s Child is a sequel of The Gruffalo, which was premiered with great success at the Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana / Ljubljana Puppet Theatre in April 2013. Both picture books were written by the English playwright Julia Donaldson. The Gruffalo (1999) is a genuine international publishing phenomenon as it was translated into 50 languages and sold out in more than 4 million copies all over the world. Its sequel, The Gruffalo's Child, published back in 2004, is no less famous or known than its predecessor.

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Grand Stage LGL

Length 65 min

Tomsa Legierski

The Journey of the Good Hans Böhm Through Europe (prefestival LUTKE) 12+

Alfa Theatre (Czech Republic)

Set design: Karel Czech

Puppetry performance, in Czech with Slovenian and English surtitles

Hans Böhm speaks French, German and Czech at home, as his parents and housemaids come from different countries.

Photo by Mitja Vasič

Small Stage LGL

Length 45 min

The Little Witch 3+

Director: Brane Vižintin

Adaptation of Jože Pengov's 1967 marionette show

The Little Witch is only 127 years old... which is very young for her profession. She lives alone in her witch house in the middle of the woods, with Abraxas the raven as her companion. Every year on Bonfire Night, the older witches gather on Mount Klek and dance the night away. The Little Witch is too young to attend the dance, but decides to secretly join in the fun. Godmother Ropotavza exposes her, and because Little Witch has broken the rule, she has one year to prove that she can be a "good" witch.

Illustration by Eva Jera Hanžek

Length 40 min

Tajda Lipicer, Giulio Settimo

The Mountain 6+

Director: Giulio Settimo

Puppetry performance

The Mountain is a puppet performance that delves into the mythical tale behind the creation of the city of Nova Gorica, or Gorizia and Nova Gorica, exploring it through the prism of life's cyclical nature and existence.

Photo Borut Bučinel

Tunnel LGL

Length 45 min

Ágota Kristóf

The Notebook 15+

Director: Mia Skrbinac

Puppet performance

The story of twins who, in their struggle for physical and emotional survival, strengthen their bodies and minds as they become increasingly indifferent and apathetic, paints a poetic picture of love, war, identity and (collective) trauma.

Power, photo Urška Boljkovac

Vadbenica LGL

Length 60 min

Authors, directors, actors: Jiří Zeman and Martina Maurič Lazar

A Puppet Miniature

In this performance the creators explore the field of an intimate puppet-object theatre. They found the materials that allow a double glimpse into the theme of power, the objects that enlarge or reduce, draw nearer or distance, hide or reveal the seen.

The Rite of Spring, photo Jaka Varmuž

Stage Under the Stars

Length 45 min

Igor Stravinski

The Rite of Spring 15+

Director: Matjaž Farič

A Puppet Ballet

This puppet ballet was conceived to the music by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky who composed one of the most controversial musical pieces in the history of musical art in the beginning of the 20th century. Today, it seems almost unbelievable that this highly popular and esteemed composition was considered as scandalous at its world premiere, that the choreography, conceived by Vaclav Nijinsky, was regarded as catastrophic, and that the music itself was misunderstood.

The Sky Above, photo Jaka Varmuž

Stage Under the Stars

Length 40 min

Tin Grabnar, Tjaša Bertoncelj, Tadeja Pungerčar

The Sky Above 5+

Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana, Mladinsko Theatre, University of Ljubljana, Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture

Directed and conceived: Tin Grabnar

Documentary theatre performance

With the performance, director Tin Grabnar and other members of the creative team aim to raise awareness about the causes and effects of climate change; about the interconnection between events and people’s behaviour across the globalised world; and about the power of the individual to change things for the better.

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Stara mestna elektrarna - Elektro Ljubljana

Length 55 min

Ezéquiel Garcia-Romeu

The Small Theatre from the End of the World, Opus 2 (Festival LUTKE) 15+

Théâtre de la Massue - Cie Ézéquiel Garcia-Romeu (France)

Dramaturgy and direction advising: Laurent Caillon

Visual theatre, non verbal

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, industry organised the workforce on a forced march in the service of victorious capitalism.

The Smartest Giant in Town

Grand Stage LGL

Length 40 min

Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler

The Smartest Giant in Town 3+

Directed by: Jaka Ivanc

Puppet performance

Following the Gruffalo and the Gruffalo's child, who had to face their fears in a forest full of predators, and the adventures of a not-at-all evil witch in ‘Room on the Broom’, the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre returns with ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’, a production based on another bestselling book by the acclaimed Scottish writer Julia Donaldson and the German illustrator Axel Scheffler. Directed by Jaka Ivanc and adapted for the stage by Jure Karas, with original music by Davor Herceg, this is a playful portrayal of the value of generosity and helping each other.

Illustration by Eva Jera Hanžek

Length 45 min

Frane Puntar

Visual design: Zlatko Bourek

Adaptation of Edi Majaron's 1978 marionette show

The 2025 programme will feature a performance from the Lutkoteka programme entitled The Swing which was created in the late 1970s. The performance, directed by legendary puppet director Edi Majaron, was based on the renowned text by Frane Puntar with artistic design by Croatian master Zlatko Bourek, while the new adaptation will be directed by Brane Vižintin.

Photo: Jaka Varmuž

Kulturnica LGL

Length 45 min

Katarina Planinc

The Tenth Daughter 6+

Authors of adaptation: Luna Pentek, Lucija Trobec

Puppetry performance

A performance about a girl who must leave her home and embark on a journey where she learns about the world and herself, based on the archetypal motif of the tenth same-sex child who is bound to leave the family home. The performance addresses the young spectators by using universal themes of loneliness and fear, but also hope, courage, and magic experienced by the girl who is out in the world on her own. As a self-reliant wanderer she faces the challenges of growing up and forming her identity.

The Visitor, photo Jaka Varmuž

Small Stage LGL

Length 40 min

Inspired by Antje Damm's children book

Director: Ivana Djilas

Puppet performance

An old draughtsman lives alone, never answering the door, never leaving his little home. His life has lost all its colour. Then one day, he makes a mug out of old paper. And then a teapot and some flowers... Using the objects around him, the draughtsman starts designing a magical world of imagination where he feels less lonely. His room comes alive with images of love and warmth, until he finally plucks up the courage to open the door and let the colour into his home.

Photo Mankica Kranjec

Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 60 min

Lyman Frank Baum, Jera Ivanc

The Wizard of Oz 4+

Directed by: Yulia Roschina

A musical fairy tale

The Wizard of Oz is the story of an unusual journey across the Land of Oz, where Dorothy, the protagonist, makes three new friends who join her in her quest to find the all-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful Wizard of Oz.

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Stage Under the Stars

Length 55 min

Jan Rozman, Julia Keren Turbahn

Things thing 6+

Production Emanat, co-production Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana, in cooperation with FELD Theater für junges Publikum

Dance performance

I never knew a thing could do so much. I never thought it was possible, but now I’m getting in touch? What can I do and can the sponge do it too? There are so many things that make me feel yellow and blue.

Photo by Jaka Varmuž

Kulturnica LGL

Length 40 min

Hans Christian Andersen

Director: Maja Kunšič

Puppet performance

Everything starts with a seed. And a desire for something to grow. Given some care and attention, the seed soon sprouts up from the ground, and grows a flower to blossom. From the flower, a tiny creature comes into the world full of brash curiosity. A creature no bigger than a thumb.

Photo by Jaka Varmuž

Small Stage LGL

Length 35 min

Nika Bezeljak

Timbuktu, Timbuktu 3+

Peter Svetina

Theatre poetry

Timbuktu is where you get burnt and someone offers you a poultice before you say ouch!

Illustration by Eva Jera Hanžek

Length 45 min

Director: Jana Nunčič

Puppet performance inspired by the story by Magnus Mills

The performance is anchored in Magnus Mills' story Three to See the King, serving as a starting point from where the creative team takes us on a journey through the emotional landscape of the explorer Gregor's heart.

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Partizanska soba LGL

Length 40 min

Tin Grabnar

Transport: Cargo (Festival LUTKE) 15+

Maribor Puppet Theatre (Slovenia)

Dramaturgy: Ajda Rooss

Puppetry performance, in Slovenian with English surtitles

Transport: Cargo shows the urgent problem of increasing road freight transport. The performance subtly raises moral and ethical questions about the value and responsibility of human beings in the context of insatiable hyper-consumerism.

Illustration by Eva Jera Hanžek

Length 60 min

Transport: Departure 15+

Director: Tin Grabnar

Puppetry performance

Transport: Departure is one of six performances by Tin Grabnar, forming part of his large-scale international project which brings together six theatres from five countries in a collaborative co-production effort. In the 2014/25 season, Grabnar will direct six original performances across six different theatres. The performances will be interconnected in terms of their content, dramaturgy and artistic design. Each performance will stand as an independent entity, yet together they will in various combinations create a new one. The common denominator of all performances will be transport and its influence on our lives and our planet.

Photo Mitja Vasič

Šentjakobski oder LGL

Length 50 min

Miha Golob

Tunnel 5+

Material theatre

Tunnel is an unusual production that seeks comfort in the dark and treats light like a delicious dessert. At first it seems that the light can be controlled, while the darkness—unknown, dangerous —cannot. However, in the performance, the situation is soon reversed – with a pinch of courage and a pinch of cooperation, we can safely enjoy the darkness as we dose it ourselves.

Turlututu, foto: Urška Boljkovac

Kulturnica LGL

Length 35 min

Hervé Tullet

Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana and Centre de Créations pour l'Enfance Tinqueux (FR)

Director: Matija Solce

Puppet performance

Turlututu! Where are you? Are you here? Here are you! It is you! You are Turlututu! Turlututu is nowhere to be found. He fell from the book and disappeared. But, how is he to be found, when he can be smaller than a flea or higher than a church tower? How is he to be looked for, if it takes him only an instant to change his colour, fly away to space or simply vanish by just uttering the right magic words? How? Quite easy, actually. Let's all be Turlututu! And, let's catch him!

Foto Peter Uhan

Grand Stage LGL

Length 50 min

Two Little Knights 5+

Director and author of adaptation: Ivana Djilas

Drama performance based on the picture book by Bjørn Fredrik Rørvik and Alice Lima de Faria

There are only two knights left at the castle, after everyone else has gone to a jousting tournament. And it is their responsibility to find the missing princess and bring her home by evening, as ordered by the king. The king is king, so who are they to deny his wishes! On the other hand…Rosebush would much rather stay home and admire his new leopard print shoes and Bang is miserable because he is constantly falling, banging, and tripping over. The princess was very probably snatched by the dragon. They embark on a daring journey to the dragon’s den, where they find the princess—who doesn’t want to return home.

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Gledališče Glej

Length 80 min

Počemučka Collective (Nataša Keser, Klemen Kovačič, Karolína Kotrbová, Aljoša Lovrić Krapež, Filip Mramor, Domen Novak, Nejc Potočan, Filip Štepec, Miranda Trnjanin)

Under Construction (Festival LUTKE) 15+

Počemučka Collective (Slovenia)

Cast: Nataša Keser, Klemen Kovačič, Filip Mramor, Domen Novak, Miranda Trnjanin

Visual theatre, in Slovenian with English surtitles

The community of the city and the city of the community.

Photo by Peter Uhan

Grand Stage LGL

Length 55 min

Vanishing World 15+

The biosphere, the thin layer of life we call home, has never been so intensely and drastically threatened. Deforestation rates have soared as we exploit the land to feed more and more people. Global emissions are disrupting the climate system, new pathogens threaten crops and our health, illegal trade has eradicated entire plant populations, and non-native species are overtaking endemic flora. Biodiversity is being lost, locally and globally.

Virginia Wolf, foto: Urška Boljkovac

Grand Stage LGL

Length 50 min

Kyo Maclear

Virginia Wolf 6+

Director: Fabrizio Montecchi

Shadow performance

The staging of Virginija Volk (Virginia Wolf) will be based on the motifs from the picture book by Kyo Maclean and Isabelle Arsenault. Vanessa has a sister Virginia, who feels wolfish and behaves that way too. She constantly howls, snarls and yelps, she is moody, she doesn't feel like hanging out with anybody, everything annoys her and nothing in this world can comfort her. But Vanessa decides to put her in a good mood. She tries just about everything, but it's not that easy. Finally, Virginia tells her that she would be happy if she could fly away. Somewhere, where there are muffins, beautiful flowers and trees, and where there is absolutely no grief. To the Flower Park! Without hesitation, Vanessa looks up for a box of crayons and the walls in the room soon become colourful and picturesque Virginia's room turns into a Flower Valley - a blooming garden, full of colours and freshness. Suddenly, everything begins to fly, and becomes bright and cheerful, including Virginia herself.

Illustration by Eva Jera Hanžek

Length 60 min

Vida Cerkvenik Bren

Whale's Navel 5+

Dramaturge: Jurij Bobič

Street performance for three performers, a whale, a guitar, a broom and the audience

Great change is under way in the world of mythological and fairy creatures, especially those considered evil until only recently. Evil witches are now warm and funny, cruel giants friendly, while in the romantic notions of contemporary teenagers, blood-thirsty vampires have transformed into passionate lovers. Is this a reflection of the changes in modern society?

Who Made Videk's Shirt

Grand Stage LGL

Length 35 min

Fran Levstik – Eka Vogelnik

Who Made Videk's Shirt 3+

Director: Eka Vogelnik

Puppet performance

The story was written by Fran Levstik, and we know it just as well as his story about Martin Krpan. They are both quite old. But in the words of Hans Christian Andersen: Stories are like many people – they grow better with age.

Illustration by Eva Jera Hanžek

Length 35 min

Benjamin Zajc

Winnie-the-Pooh 3+

Dramaturge: Tajda Lipicer

Recycled puppet performance

The performance Winnie-the-Pooh will centre on recycling, specifically utilising puppets from the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre's stock of puppets that were never used in past performances. In terms of direction, Winnie-the-Pooh marks the debut puppet performance of Benjamin Zajc, the resident dramaturge at the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, as part of the BiTeater programme. The performance, based on A. A. Milne's famous work, will centre around Eeyore’s perspective and particularly focus on the theme of building trust, otherwise moving away from the popular artistic design characteristic of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends.

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Stage Under the Stars

Length 60 min

WroOng! (prefestival LUTKE) 5+

L'Orto degli Ananassi (Italy)

Drama performance, in Slovenian with English abstract

What is right and what is wrong? When and why do we feel wrong?

Yellow Moon, foto Mankica Kranjec

Sr. vzgojiteljska šola, gimn. in umetniška gimn. Ljubljana

Length 105 min

David Greig

Yellow Moon 15+

The theatre laboratory of the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre in collaboration with the Planina Residential and Counselling Centre Co-produced by the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre and the Ljubljana Secondary School for Preschool Education, Secondary and Art Secondary School

Director: Primož Ekart

A Dramatic Performance

Yellow Moon: The Ballad of Leila and Lee is a love story. A story of two teenagers who find each other just as one of them is facing dire life changes. Lee is 17. He lives with his mother and her boyfriend, cherishing the memory of his father who left when Lee was five years old. His father left behind a hat with a deer patch and a postcard of a mansion in the Scottish Highlands. “My father is the king of Glasgow and this is his mansion,” says Lee. It is in the mansion that he seeks comfort at a time of his greatest hardship. On his way there, he is joined by Lejla—the “quiet Lejla”, a Muslim girl who never speaks. Lejla comes from a well-off family and she wants the world to notice her. She wishes to be seen and heard, and to arouse interest in people. Lejla and Lee find each other, but dark times are down the road. The past is after them and they will have a hard time escaping it.

Vimeo

Brumen award