Puppet Theater Mostar

The founder, first director and director of the Theater was Đorđe Đoka Bovan, a true legend of the development of puppetry in Mostar. After him, we should single out Antonije Anta Karačić, who was the first to start collaborating with the biggest names in puppetry from Czechoslovakia at the time. Then follow Jovo Spajić, Milivoje Mrkić and Mirzo Pelić. Immediately after the last war, the acting director was Nuri-Džihan Kezman, from 1995 to 2000 the director was Muhamed Nametak, and then, from 2000 to 2017, Ranka Mutevelić, who established cooperation with the most prominent puppet makers from Bulgaria , Poland, Slovenia and Belarus. Since the beginning of 2017, the director of the Puppet Theater in Mostar is Edin Kmetaš.

In the past war from 1992 - 1995, in which Mostar, unfortunately, gained the reputation of the most devastated city of the former Yugoslavia, the building of the Puppet Theater was destroyed, the actors were chased away, fled, scattered around the world, and some of them sought refuge in other theater houses . However, thanks to the help of the European Union, the Theater building was renovated. It was necessary to start from the very beginning, with a new ensemble for a new audience of children, who deserved to replace the whistling of a grenade with the enjoyment of puppet shows.

Cooperation with directors and puppetry experts such as Slavč Malenov, Todor Valov, Wojciech Wieczorkiewicz, Robert Waltl, Ivan Conev, Elžbieta Eysymont, Jaroslaw Antoniuk, Aleksej Ljeljavski, Elica Petkova, Tamara Kučinović, Ines Pašić, Zijah A. Sokolović and others, is from Mostar the puppeteer once again made true masters of animation and worthy successors of their famous predecessors, those who made anthology plays in the seventies and eighties of the last century, then collaborating with directors such as Edi Majaron, Luka Paljetek, Todor Ristić, Ivan Teofilov, Saša Jovanović...

In recent years, the Puppet Theater has once again become widely recognized for its quality and innovative approach in its projects. In the last few years alone, it has won over 70 awards at international and domestic festivals, of which 4 Grand Prix for the best plays, and the Award for the best ensemble play, the Ensemble Award for acting mastery, the Special Award for the integrity of theatrical expression, the Special Award for the completely designed project, then a large number of awards for the best individual and collective acting achievements. There are also numerous awards for the best direction, the most beautiful scenography, puppet design and costumes, and several awards from the children's jury.

It is an unusual fact that the acting ensemble of the Puppet Theater consists of only seven actors, who perform a dozen shows in the current repertoire, from classic puppet shows to puppet musicals, interactive plays, shows for the youngest and older children, and a puppet show for adults is also planned, as well as the start of the Children's Puppet Workshop, in which children from all over Mostar will participate. In addition to all that, the Puppet Theater is also working on creating better working conditions. It invests in its premises, acquires modern theater equipment, built, with the help of friends from the Czech Republic and the Republic of Italy, its Small Stage "Karel Čapek", equipped modern actors' wardrobes, and carried out a complete restoration of the Big Stage.

The Mostar Puppet Theater is an ambitious, mobile and open theater, which plays its plays in the languages of all the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina and which continuously works on its own profiling and qualitative progress, while not neglecting its most important function, the creation of better and better plays for its most faithful, youngest audience. .