Author, Puppets Designer, Performer: Matija Solce
Director: Vida Cerkvenik Bren

Production: Teatro Matita & MCLU Koper

Premiere: 2003

When night falls and the world of people calms down for a while from its turmoil, a writer tries to write a short story. Tired, he falls asleep and in his dreams the objects around him and the characters he has imagined, come to life, and stories and tales begin to weave among them… This puppet show is aimed at all generations of viewers, featuring puppets with original animation mechanisms invented and directed by Matija Solce.

Matija Solce | Teatro Matita
A musician, puppeteer, actor and director as well as a professor of puppetry, festival organiser and activist. He graduated from doctoral studies on Alternative Theatre and Puppetry at the Prague Theatre Academy (DAMU). In his works he closely connects music and theatre, and therefore his concerts often turn into interactive theatre performances, or his puppet shows become musical compositions. With his accordion and suitcase full of puppets he travelled the globe, experiencing venues as extreme as prisons, ashrams, people’s bedrooms or big halls of international festivals. So far he has received over 20 awards.

In 2002, after graduating from his studies at Bruno Leone’s Traditional Italian Hand Puppet School in Naples (Italy), he established Teatro Matita. His first shows ‘E Beh?’ (2002) and ‘Little Night Tales’ (2003) proved to be great successes and were subsequently presented at a range of international festivals around the globe. In his latest performances, Matija is experimenting with building object theatre shows on musical principles.

“The symbolism was as gentle as it was charming. In using bones as puppets Matija Solce was restoring flesh to them, and perhaps giving them a glimpse of reincarnation…” / The Sydney Morning Herald

“Matija Solce creates a unique authorial speech at the crossroad of tradition and modernity, where traditional puppet tradition highlights the surprisingly fresh transformations with touch of popular culture”/ jury for price “Golden Bird”