The 13th Naj, Naj, Naj Festival

Once again, Zagreb’s Žar Ptica Theatre will be host to the international review of the best plays by professional children’s theatres, named the 'Naj, Naj, Naj Festival', which will take place for the 13th “lucky” consecutive year, between 22 and 27 March.

The 'Naj, Naj, Naj Festival' – a large, competitive European review of the best plays by professional theatres for children, excluding puppet theatres, will take place in Zagreb for the 13th consecutive year, between 22 and 27 March.

This attractive international festival has been organized by Zagreb’s Žar Ptica Theatre for many years in order to present some of the best contemporary children’s plays, not including puppet shows, to the Zagreb audience – the youngsters and their parents. Plays will be performed at Žar Ptica as well as other theatres in Zagreb. A total of 13 plays have made it into the official contest selection, while one play that is not part of the competition will be performed at the festival’s closing.

Numerous titles were submitted for this year’s competitive review and, according to the selection by the festival committee, the audience will have the opportunity to enjoy the best and most interesting contemporary plays from Italy, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia.

The festival will be opened by two plays: A Poor Man and The Devil by the Žar Ptica Theatre; and Regoč and Strange Loves by the Malo Pozorište Theatre of Serbia. The programme on the second day will consist of the plays Telephone Stories by the Virovitica Theatre, Think Before you Speak by the Novi Život Theatre, and Life is a Dream by Zagreb’s Mala Scena Theatre.
Sunday is reserved for a play by the Croatian National Theatre of Varaždin and the Pinklec theatre troupe from Čakovec titled Snow White Must Die, followed by the plays Grandfather and a Turnip by a troupe from Split, and Snow Queen by a theatre from Ljubljana.

The third day will feature the Italian play On-Off, followed by the Polish play Floorville, and a dancing play – I Love Physics, by the Zagreb Dance Ensemble.

The final day of the festival will be opened by the play Ezopeja by the Playdrama theatre troupe from Split. In the evening, after the awards ceremony, there will be a performance of a play that is not part of the official competition of the festival, titled Merry Fairytale Book.

Admission to all the plays is free, but tickets must be picked up at least an hour before the beginning of the show. Anyone interested can find out more about the program at http://www.zar-ptica.hr/hrv/najnaj_festival.asp