Thursday, September 22nd; 20.00 h; Travno Cultural Centre venue; 7+; 50 minutes; in Croatian
NEVERENDING STORY
The performance Neverending Story talks about the lack of imagination, how imagination is dying out today and if we let it, the world of imagination will die out too. With playfulness and humor, the performance takes us back to the happy days of childhood and teaches us to dream, to play and to become/remain children again. The theme of the play is drawn through the prism of friendship, courage and a sense of the value of one’s own self. Let’s stay/become children, let’s create Fantasy again, because it needs to be saved.
Fantasy, the land of infinite children’s imagination, is in danger from a terrible enemy – Nothingness – and is threatened with destruction. The only hope for her salvation is the Green Horse hero Atreus. The task before him is not at all easy, but luckily a selfless citizen of Slavljograd, Renato, helps him in his mission. Two heroes-in-the-making embark on a grand quest for salvation across Fantastica where they meet unusual Fantasticans and face various obstacles and adversities.
ACADEMY OF ARTS AND CULTURE IN OSIJEK, REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
The Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek is the only artistic-teaching organisational unit of the University of Josip Juraj Strossmayer in Osijek. It started operating independently in the academic year 2004/2005 as the Academy of Arts in Osijek. Today, it has six departments. There are several undergraduate university study programmes, including Acting and Puppetry, and Theatre, Film and Television Design (which includes puppet design and technology). The Academy of Arts and Culture has the only puppetry programme in Croatia (and neighbouring countries). At the Department of Theatre Arts, as part of the Acting and Puppetry study programme, students study both dramatic acting and puppetry and acquire a bachelor’s degree in acting and puppetry. Graduate university programmes include the Puppetry Animation study programme and the entirely new Puppetry Directing study programme. The Academy contributes to Osijek’s cultural and artistic life by organising numerous events such as the Dioniz festival and Lutkokaz (an international puppetry revue – a meeting of puppetry academies and small puppet theatres). Acting and puppetry students successfully toured their puppet performances at festivals in the country and abroad (Slovakia, Russia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland and Italy). They are regular guests at PIF where they showcase their undergraduate and graduate exam productions, new approaches to puppetry and innovations in stage performance. The performance Rainbow, created as a graduation exam, won four awards at the 48th PIF.
