Mala scena: Theater Is Coming to See You!

During the last quarter of a century, Mala scena has gone a long way, figuratively speaking in their development but also literally by travelling to meet spectators in Croatia and abroad. This life on wheels continues this year as well but in a completely different manner.

Mala scena, a theatre whose shows are intended for audience of a very young age as well as older, which is also always interesting to adults, started its creative process in 1986. During the first three years, its members went to visit audiences throughout Croatia, driving everything necessary for their shows in models of the Zastava 750 called fićo and Zastava 101 nicknamed stojadin, modest cars whose size, comfort and speed were appropriate to that time. The construction of their own theatre building did not stop them from travelling to meet their spectators so they toured the entire Croatia and a large part of Europe in an old van they got in Germany. The show entitled Baršunasti zečić (Velvet Bunny) premiered in 1995 in a bus which was a gift from colleagues from the Netherlands. In 2020 due to the pandemic, they met their audience online resulting in almost a hundred virtual gatherings without limitations. This string continues today.

However their trips to meet the audience got a new dimension earlier this year in the project Theatre in a Truck! Time has shown that virtual encounters cannot replace meeting face to face and also that, as they say, theatre is a collective experience that is created and enriched through interaction.

That is why the troupe of Mala scena is searching for a truck that would be donated to them and start its new life as a vehicle for a travelling theatre and a stage at a distance, which is also very close to its audience. As is explained by members of Mala scena, spectators will be able to attend shows from their windows and balconies or while standing on a meadow. This will allow for socialising which is so important to actors and audience while keeping in line with the distancing requirements. The theatre is soon coming to see you!