MINI TEATER

MINI TEATER was founded as a small theatre for the youngest audience in 1999 by Robert Waltl – a director, actor, puppeteer, artistic manager and recipient of a number of prestigious awards and Ivica Buljan, director, dramaturg and recipient of a number of prestigious awards . Through studying the Slovene cultural and theatre environment, MINI TEATER reshaped its structural idea and started to develop different streamlines and art practice in its theatrical activity. The company has a small theatre hall within Ljubljana Castle, where performances for children, youth and adults are played, or school and kindergarten groups are invited to visit. The theatre performs also tours across Slovenia and abroad. The programme is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic Slovenia and the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Ljubljana. A new theatre hall at Križevniška ulica within Ljubljana Old Town is currently under construction.
MINI TEATER’s basic activity is represented by the production of quality puppet and theatre performances in co-operation with artists from different artistic environments. The theatre is dedicated mainly to puppets, which does not prevent them from producing also acted performances for adults and youth. In creating the programme, the staging of Slovene texts (preferably from Slovene national heritage) is a must, yet the promotion of contemporary world drama texts for adults is also important as well as the establishment of new approaches in directing or working with Slovene and international stage directors and actors (Robert Waltl, Ivica Buljan, Philippe Calvario, etc.)
In 2005, MINI TEATER collaborated with Wax Factory New York on a multimedia production called 'She Said...' with a soundtrack by Random Logic. In 2006 and 2007, its productions included Quartet by Heiner Mueller, Jackie by Elfride Jelinek and Mad About Vincent by Herve Guibert as well as the five performances for children: Little Red Riding Hood by Brothers Grimm and Caliph Stork by Wilhelm Hauff, The Mishmash Bakery by the Slovenian poet Svetlana Makarovič, The Wishing Table by Brothers Grimm and Marek Bečka and The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen and Robert Waltl.
Every year, they take part in numerous international festivals making contacts with prominent cultural centres in Slovenia and abroad. MINI TEATER presents more than 400 performances per year in Slovenia and abroad. Many performances were performed in Italy, Austria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Russia, Belgium, Iran, Poland, Czechia, Venezuela, Cuba, United Kingdom etc. They won numerous awards within important theatre and puppet festivals in Slovenia and abroad (only in 2003 we had two awards at the National Borštnik Festival, two awards at the Slovene Biennial of Puppet Artists, and one award from the National Association of Drama Artists).
Summer Castle Afternoons represent also one of the important activities of MINI TEATER; they take place behind the ancient walls of the Ljubljana castle, where also two festivals are organised: the Mini Summer, International Festival for children (which brings joy to the youngest visitors during the summer, offering them the best performances of Slovene and foreign production), and Festival of Medieval and Renaissance Music (taking place every year in September).