The SwingAdaptation of the 1978's marionette show, length 40 min

A little girl swings bored on a swing while Bear washes dishes nearby. She asks him to swing her vigorously and when he does, she flies far away to the land of bouncing goblins - the real fun makers. When the girl returns, the bear swings her again, but this time in the wrong direction, so that the girl ends up with the unfortunate souls, the heavy blue goblins. The girl now swings back and forth between the Land of Laughter and the Land of Sorrow and learns the simple truths of life. Nothing in them is black or white, nothing is ever just happy or sad, but these two worlds coexist within us and play off each other like a kind of children's game, enriched by the birds in the clouds.

The Swing was written by Frane Puntar, a well-known Slovenian author of radio plays and youth theatre texts, who was awarded the Prešeren Award. In 1978, the famous puppeteer Edi Majaron staged the play in the then premises of the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre. Now, almost half a century later, he has staged a refreshed version of this famous (puppetheque) performance, with an unusual visual design by Zlatko Bourek.

For this refreshed adaptation of The Swing, the puppet engineers of Ljubljana Puppet Theatre have created new puppets, all based on Bourek's original designs from the late 1970s. The new puppets in this production are slightly enlarged copies of existing museum puppets from the original show.

Stylistically, The Swing flirts with Puntar's famous radio opus, drawing on its layering of soundscapes carefully interwoven with a symphony of sounds, rhythmic interjections and an almost musical approach to language. Rather than relying on a detailed narrative, The Swing builds its atmosphere with an orchestrated cacophony of short, pithy sentences full of meaning. Even the names of the goblins (Haha, Hehe, Ahjah...) are not simply appellations, but act as an integral part of this sonic intrigue, reinforcing the overall rhythm and tone of the text with playful and evocative sounds enriched by interacting pieces. And it is in this sense that Frane Puntar most successfully interprets emotions, their fluctuations, their swings in daily life, emphasising their inevitability - how they rise and fall, intensify and subside, often without warning or control. His approach empowers emotions as forces that shape and determine personal and shared experiences and emphasises that they are unavoidable and therefore must not be hidden or shamed.

Zlatko Bourek created his first puppets at the invitation of director Edi Majaron for the performance The Swing (1978) at Ljubljana Puppet Theatre. As extremely colourful, humorous and endearingly caricatured puppets - such as the puppets of the Goblins and the Birds in particular - they already attracted attention at the time. The versatile Croatian visual artist Bourek went on to create eight more puppet shows in Slovenia, most of them in his unmistakable grotesque style for an adult audience.

The Puppetheque programme revives the oldest puppet shows that have captivated audiences and shaped the theatrical memory of Ljubljana Puppet Theatre and beyond. Our Puppetheque shows include refreshed and restored old productions, adaptations of legendary shows, and new interpretations that pay tribute to the authors of the original creations. Some have been on stage for decades, others, like The Swing, return in new adaptations and accompany the coming of age of new puppetry enthusiasts and represent a valuable part of Slovenia's puppetry heritage.

The Museum of Puppetry, now in its 10th year of exsistence within Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, is dedicated to the careful protection and preservation of the most valuable Slovenian puppetry heritage, which undoubtedly includes Bourek's entire oeuvre and thus also his extraordinary The Swing. With the copies of the original puppets, which are brought to life in the puppet shows at Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, we are successfully building a bridge between history and contemporary, with a view to the future.

The original puppets from the 1978 production of The Swing will be on display in a temporary exhibition from the "Dusted" series in the foyer of the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre in the days following the premiere of the refreshed production.

Opening: 13 March 2025, Grand Stage LGL

Frane Puntar (1936-2013) was for many years the central name in Slovenian youth theatre. He worked as a poet and author of puppet and radio plays, which were primarily aimed at children. With his radio plays, he created a new artistic direction that visibly enriches the words or the language story with sound material, so that the listener is presented with a kind of “sound picture book" or "sound collage". He is considered the most translated Slovenian radio play author of all time. 

Edi Majaron is a legendary Slovenian puppet director born in 1940 in Ljubljana. He graduated in Cello at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he also concluded his postgraduate study. He pursued his further postgraduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He has directed over 80 performances in various professional puppet theatres in Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Poland, Belarus and Italy. His works included texts from Aristophanes to Shakespeare and modern prominent Slovenian authors, performances for adults and children, many of which have passed strict selection procedures to be included in prominent international festivals: Charleville-Mézieres, Bielsko-BiaŁa, Minsk, Cervia, Perugia, Bochum, Magdeburg, Toronto, Dordrecht, Tolosa, Segovia, Barcelona, Silkeborg, the Zagreb International Puppet Theatre Festival (PIF), Children's Festival in Šibenik Bugojno, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Yokohama, Tehran and many others. His performances are known for their humane messages. As a professional musician, he leaves a distinct imprint on his performances by skilfully balancing musical expression with the rhythm of animation, seamlessly integrating music into the dramaturgy.

Zlatko Bourek was a painter, costume designer and set designer. He was a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was born on 4 September 1929 in Slavonska Požega. In 1955 he graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Zagreb and is one of the founders of the Zagreb school of animated film. His works include caricatures, illustrations and graphics, and he incorporated metal and textile into the creation of costumes. In Slovenia, he collaborated with the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre as director, puppet author, set designer and artistic design author. He also worked with Cankarjev dom and the Freyer Theatre and other Slovenian theatres where he worked as costume and set designer for various performances. In 2013, he received the Klemenčič Award, awarded by UNIMA Slovenia.