Tunnel – SAMPO Festival

Tunnel is an unusual production that seeks comfort in the dark and treats light like a delicious dessert.

Based on the animation of light and darkness, the performance creates a playground for darkness, where associative visual and sound images are created that playfully raise questions about fear and courage.

At first it seems that the light can be controlled, while the darkness— unknown, dangerous —cannot. However, in the performance, the situation is soon reversed – with a pinch of courage and a pinch of cooperation, we can safely enjoy the darkness as we dose it ourselves.

Tunnel is inhabited by both light and darkness. Light is inseparably linked to colour, shape, structure, depth, distance, and activity. In darkness the world revealed in the light disappears, sounds become distorted without a clear picture and many people feel discomfort. Fear?

Playing with light also means playing with darkness. Do we then still know what colour, shape, texture, size the world is? Where are we? And who are we – do we also change, lose our colour, shape, structure, depth and size?

Based on the animation of light and darkness, the performance creates a playground for darkness, where associative visual and sound images are created that playfully raise questions about fear and courage.

The performance includes lighting effects that may disturb sensitive viewers.

Co-produced with the Klaipėda Puppet Theatre (Lithuania) as part of the European project
Mapping.

Age recommendation 5+
Duration: 50 min
Language: nonverbal, Finnish (from recording)

Director, art director, set designer: Miha Golob
Dramaturgy: Mojca Redjko
Costume designer: Dajana Ljubičić
Music: Andrius Šiurys
Virtual content designer: Borut Kumperščak
Lighting designer: Gregor Kuhar
Actors: Miha Arh, Gašper Malnar, Barbara Kanc k.g., Filip Šebšajevič k.g.
Sincere thanks for kind cooperation: Ada, Ana, Brin, Jonatan, Lara, Luisa, Oliver, Timeja,
Varja, Veno, Vid, Zora
Performance manager, sound designer and video technician: Aleš Erjavec
Recording conversations and editing audio recordings: Mitja Vasič, Aleš Erjavec, Izidor Kozelj
Producer: Alja Cerar Mihajlović, Agnė Pulokaitė
Lighting control: Gregor Kuhar/Kristjan Vidner
Stage technician: Sašo Kitić
Set, puppets, props and costumes: Polona Černe, Sandra Birjukov, David Klemenčič, Zlatko Djogić, Zoran Srdić, Monika Colja, Smrekca d.o.o.
Mirror production: Konveks, Oliver Frlić, s.p.

Miha Golob is a theatre and puppet director. His original concepts are often based on the idea of exploration and play with material, which consistently ensures an active and creative role of the spectator. As part of the European Mapping project, he returns to the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre with his original project Tunnel, in which light and darkness are the key theatrical symbols and the field of research.

The Klaipėda Puppet Theatre (1991) boldly focuses on discovering new ways of puppet expression, and its repertoire consists of interpretations by both local and foreign authorsThe theatre's main mission is to present classical and contemporary puppetry to children and young people from Klaipėda and the region, but as the only professional puppet theatre in western Lithuania it produces works for audiences of all ages.

Mapping – A Map on the aesthetics of performing arts for early years – is a large-scale international project supported by the Creative Europe Programme 2018–2022.The project focuses on artistic research and the creation of a sensory relationship with young audiences (0–6 years old), resulting in four exhibitions, 16 premieres for younger audiences and five illustrated expert publications.