The Utopia

Puppet Theatre Mostar

Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

Text and direction: Vanja Jovanović

Play’s visual identity: Mario Tomašević

Music: Marin Živković

Dramaturgy assistant: Hana Kunić

 

Cast: Marta Haubrich, Ivan Nevjestić, Tibor Oreč, Jadranka Popović–Miljko

 

The Utopia explores the importance of art both for the individual and for the life of a family, a civilization, and even a universe. The play focuses, in a metaphorical way, on the dissolution of one civilization and the creation of a new one in which art is rejected. In a dystopian style, it envisions a world without art. The work achieves its uniqueness particularly through the use of various artistic forms – musical, visual, theatrical, and puppetry arts – all combined into a single theatrical experience.

The plot revolves around a family of painters and their youngest member, Marta. When she finds out from her friends that her family has concealed the truth about her father’s disappearance since her birth – telling her instead that he would return at any moment – she decides to search for him in a land where art is forbidden. There, she encounters people who have become empty shells, filled with hopelessness, hatred, and fear as a result of living without art. By sharing her own art, she helps them rediscover the possibility of beauty in life and, in doing so, gives them a renewed sense of purpose.

 

Form: Drama–puppet show

Language: Bosnian

Age of the audience: 12+

Performance duration: 50 minutes