In Good HandsPuppet show, length 45 min

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.

This hand puppet show for young children was created by an international team of artists. The text, written for the occasion by Jera Ivanc, was directed by Jakub Maksymov, an award-winning puppet director from the Czech Republic. Visual and set design was made by Jakub Šulík from Slovakia. The music, performed live by the actors, is by Serbian composer and musician Lazar Novkov.

Premiere 7 March 2024, Stage Under the Stars LGL

Jera Ivanc, playwright, dramaturge and translator, graduated from the Department of Classical Philology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. Her debut drama (Perzej, 2003) was staged at the Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana which she later (2010–13) was also the artistic director of.Her translations, especially of Greek and Roman tragedies, and her own texts, especially musical comedies, puppet plays and works for children and adolescents, are regularly performed on Slovenian theatre stages. In 2023 she received the Marko Slodnjak Award (ZDUS – Slovenian Association of Dramatic Artists) and the Pengov Charter (UNIMA Slovenia), in 2022 she was nominated for the Slavko Grum Award with her comedy #punceinpolpunce (SNG Drama Ljubljana), while her production of the comedy Prevare (MGL) triumphed at the 2015 Comedy Days in Celje.

Jakub Maksymov is a Czech director and occasional playwright and performer. He works mainly in contemporary puppet theatre and object theatre. Object theatre is also the main topic of his doctoral research at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. His first major project was a puppet film entitled A Thousand Dozens, made in 2016 based on short stories by Jack London, which won several awards at various international festivals. In 2020, he won the theatre critics' award in the Talent of the Year category. His project Na vukovom tragu, created in the Serbian theatre Pozorište mladih, was selected for the programme of the ASSITEJ World Congress in Tokyo in 2021. He has cooperated with several theatres and independent groups in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia, and has received several festival awards for his performances.

Jakub Šulík is a Slovak set and puppet designer and multimedia artist based in Prague. While studying at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, he founded the independent puppet theatre group FRAS with his classmates. Their most important projects areThe Smallest of the Sami and Honeymaker. He has also worked with several Czech institutional theatres: Husa na provázku, Bajka, Drak and others.

Lazar Novkov is a Serbian composer and musician. He was born in Novi Sad, where he studied and where he currently lives and works. He performs as an accordionist and keyboardist with various musical groups. He is also the founder of Frame Orchestra, an instrumental post-jazz ensemble that plays his original music. He has recorded three albums with the ensemble and toured Europe. He also composes incidental music. He has worked with many theatres in the former Yugoslavia and in Slovakia. He first met Jakub Maksymov during rehearsals for Na vukovem tragu. In Good Hands will be their eleventh collaboration.