28/10/2025
Undoubtedly, the highlights of the 31st edition of the International Festival of Puppet Theatres and Forms SPOTKANIA, organized by Baj Pomorski Theatre in Toruń, were the competition performances: “The House” by Sofie Krog Teater from Denmark and “Change Yourself” (Zmień się) by the Olsztyn Puppet Theatre. The first was aimed at teenage and adult audiences, the second at the youngest.
These were among the performances judged by three independent juries: the Professional Jury, the Children’s Jury, and the Jan Wilkowski ZASP Prize Jury.
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Triumph of the Danes
The festival’s main award – the Grand Prix – was granted by the Professional Jury to “The House” by the Danish company Sofie Krog Teater. The jury justified its decision by awarding the prize “for reviving the tradition of puppet theatre, which today becomes the avant-garde.”
This is theatre in a compact form, but by no means minimal. Sofie Krog and David Faraco are responsible for the script, direction, puppet design, stage realization – and for the animation itself, which is absolutely flawless.
They operate intricate elements of the set and even a rotating stage (!) with such “magical” precision that the viewer gets the impression there must be several hidden assistants under the stage.
The surreal humor of this comic thriller, set in the Warehouse Family Funeral Home, recalls the American series Six Feet Under or the French black comedy Delicatessen. A change in the family matriarch’s will unleashes a chain of events revealing what should have stayed behind closed doors. The calm before the storm – someone is scheming, and someone is heading for disaster…
Technically impressive, finely animated, and incredibly funny, this much-awarded show has toured half the world and now invited audiences of the 31st SPOTKANIA to its “deadly” house.
The outstanding duo of animators also received the Jan Wilkowski Prize for acting achievement in the field of puppet animation, awarded by the ZASP Puppet Theatre Section.
O spektaklach dla młodzieży i dorosłych podczas 31. edycji Międzynarodowego Festiwalu Teatrów Lalek i Formy SPOTKANIA w Baju Pomorskim w Toruniu pisze Aram Stern.