From The First Step: A Rooted Tour

‘Lagarije - čas o Surogatu’ (‘Make-believe – A Lecture on The Substitute’) is a lecture performance for children based on motifs from the 1961 animated film ‘The Substitute’ by Dušan Vukotić. The performance is based on the assumption that art is a lie, while a lie is a precondition for human imagination, inventing stories, dreams and creation. By using colours and shapes, Magritte's principle ‘ceci n'est pas une pipe’ which explains to children what symbols mean in art, the authors explain to children the fluidity of the boundaries of fiction and reality in today's world. In this performing context, ‘The Substitute’ serves as the basis and inspiration for a multimedia and interactive performance which speaks about ideas, loneliness, emotions, and imagination. Accompanied by the workshop and roundtable, the authors of the performance will present to both children and adults (professionals, but also educational workers, cultural workers, and parents) the basis of Lagarije's methodology and how to teach children to interpret and reflect on the world around them using imagination and art.

Prehistoric Girl is a play metaphor about eternal childhood and a document about the childhood of human civilization. In this play, nature is an event – a character, a moment, beauty, a friend, a killer, a parent, a landlord. Nature is not something that ‘should simply be saved’; it is a part of us in such a manner that sometimes we reflect it. The play reminds us of how estranged we have become in our relationship with the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, water, fire, plants, and animals, and how much we have distanced ourselves from nature. Besides this, it is a story about a brave and gifted young girl, Gava, who fights to find her place in the patriarchal community. While creating the play, the authorial team followed the goal of minimising the footprint on planet Earth. ‘The Prehistoric Girl’ is an example of good practice in ecological theatre: it does not only deal with environmental topics but also uses natural materials (wood, egg cartons, natural hand-squeezed pigments from the earth, pinecones, jute, straw, ropes, water) that can be returned to nature. This performance also includes a discussion on the topic of the potential for green practice in theatre.

‘Bing Bang Bong’ is a workshop on the topic of original musical instruments made of recycled objects, conducted by the Slovene composer and theatre director, Peter Kus. During the workshop, children will be introduced to different possibilities of using recycled materials that can be turned into original musical instruments to produce various sounds. They will have the opportunity to hear several of Peter Kus’ instruments and make several of their own (a froggy, different flutes, a didgeridoo, a bull-roarer, and others). Cardboard tubes, paper, wooden sticks, plastic tubes, threads, bottles and other recycled materials will be used. At the end of the workshop, the artist and participants develop different musical compositions with different instruments performed for the public. Apart from its highly entertaining note, the workshop is also educational because it promotes the importance and meaning of recycling in today’s world and follows the premises introduced in ‘The Prehistoric Girl’.