Translated by:
Oton Župančič

Director:
Aleksander Anurov

Actors:
Nataša Matjašec, Ivica Knez alt. Milan Štefe and Viktor Meglič

Set made by:
Ana Viktorova in Zdenko Majaron

Music:
Mitja Vrhovnik Smrekar

Set design and puppets:
Ana Viktorova

Costume design:
Ana Savić Gecan

Light and Sound:
SNG Maribor

Language consultant:
Mateja Dermelj

Co-production:
SNG Maribor, Novo kazalište Zagreb, ARL Dubrovnik

Opening performance:
September 2004

Duration 60 min

A theatre and puppet performance for children from 4 years up

Imaginative and unusual fairy tale of Russian poet has thrilled the critics and audiences at home and abroad. Grand prix of the Bienale of Slovenian puppet creators 2005.

The Story of the Tsar Saltan, His Son the Famous and Mighty Hero, Prince Guidon, and the Gorgeous Princess Swany.

About the performance

This unusual fairy tale in verse is a story about an emperor who choses to take as his wife and mother to his son the most sincere and the most ambitious among the three young girls. Yet doing so, a great evil is released arising from the envy of her unsuccessful rivals and her mother-in-law Babaruha. The old woman chases the young mother and the boy to the open sea, where they are left to the mercy of their unknown fate. From the story we learn about the magic of the Nature in the shape of a gentle wave that rescues the two castaways throwing them on a desert island. We learn about the goodhearted and charming she-swan, who - showing gratitude to her heroic rescuer from the claws of a hawk - helps the prince Guidon  through several circles up to a very happy ending - when she changes to his beautiful bride.

About the director

Aleksander Anurov is one of the most prominent Russian actors and directors defined by special sensibility and high humanistic education. He was invited - along with the Russian set designer Ana Viktorova, the Slovene composer Mitja Vrhovnik Smrekar, and the Croatian costume designer Ano Savić Gecan - to create a classical Pushkin's tale within our theatre since we wanted to present this jewel of world literature in a new and unusual light. We also wanted to remind the Slovene public of the Russian poet Pushkin who appears to be almost forgotten in our country though his works enjoy great admiration worldwide.

About the author

Greatest Russian poet, founder of classical Russian poetry.

Born June 6, 1799, in Moscow, into a noble family. Took particular pride in his great-grandfather Hannibal, a black general who served Peter the Great. Educated at the Imperial Lyceum at Tsarkoye Selo, Pushkin demonstrated an early poetic gift. In 1817 was taken into the ministry of foreign affairs in Saint Petersburg; there he mingled in the social life of the capital and belonged to an underground revolutionary group. In 1820 this came to the attention of the authorities, and Pushkin was exiled to Caucasus; nonetheless, he continued to hold official posts and incurred the stern disapproval of a superior. Pushkin was dismissed from government service in 1824 and banished to his mother's estate near Pskov. In 1826 Czar Nicholas I, recognizing his enormous popularity, pardoned him. Pushkin died February 10, 1837, from wounds that he suffered in a duel which he had fought in St. Petersburg.

Pushkin provided a literary heritage for Russians, whose native language had hitherto been considered unfit for literature. He was also a versatile writer of great vigor and optimism who understood the many facets of the Russian character. His lyric poetry—said to be delightful to the Russian ear but untranslatable—and his simple, vivid prose were invaluable models for the writers who followed him.The influence of Lord Byron shows itself, along with Pushkin's own love of liberty, in many of his poems.

Most important works include a verse novel "Evgeny Onegin" ("Eugene Onegin"), which is considered the first of the great Russian novels (although in verse), as well as verse dramas "Boris Godunov", "Poltava", "Mednyi vsadnik" ("The Bronze Horseman"), "Mozart i Salieri" ("Mozart and Salieri"), "Kamennyi gost" ("The Stone Guest"), "Pir vo vremya chumy" ("Feast in the Time of the Plague"), poems "Ruslan and Ludmila", "Kavkazskii plennik" ("The Prisoner of the Caucasus", "Bakhchisaraiskii Fontan" ("The Fountain of Bakhchisarai"), "Tsygane" ("The Gypsies"), novel "Kapitanskaya dochka" ("The Captain's Daughter"). 

Lived in Moscow and St. Petersburg, for his social pursuits was in 1820 exiled to Kishinev and then to Odessa.

Festivals and performances on tour

Slovenia, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Russia, Cuba, Croatia