The theater for children and youth from Skopje received significant awards at two theater festivals in Serbia for the play "Ronja, the robber's daughter" in a short period of time.

The puppet show "Ronja, the daughter of the robber" of the Theater for Children and Youth (TDM) from Skopje won two important awards at the annual edition of the international "Novosad Theater Games", which were held in Novi Sad, Serbia.

The latest play of the Skopje theater directed by the Czech director Jakub Maksimov won the highest award Grand Prix for the best play as a whole, and the jury of the festival additionally awarded an award for "Mastery in animation" to the actress Matea Jankovska for the creation of the role of Ronja in the same play.

The play also won two more awards at the "Golden Spark" festival in Kragujevac, Serbia, where Matea Jankovska won an award for acting and Lazar Novkov for best music.

The talented actress Matea Jankovska is still sorting through the impressions from the performance at the festivals and is sincerely looking forward to the awards.

In a short period of time, he received two acting awards for the play "Ronja, the Robber's Daughter". Your home Theater for Children and Youth also received an award. What kind of feeling does the recognition for their work cause in actors?

- I am very happy! We all invested a lot in "Ronja" and I am very glad that all that work was appreciated and rewarded. I'm proud that we got so many awards, I'm still excited. I am especially happy about the prize for the play, the grand Grand Prix. It is best when we all together make a successful show that will play for a long time and reach the audience.

You staged the play "Ronja, the Robber's Daughter" in TDM with the dramaturgy and direction of Yakub Maksimov, who has a specific style of work, and the actors are required to be a total theater with dancing, singing, puppet work of everyone involved in the play . How challenging is that style of work as an actor?

- First of all, I want to thank Jakub for the trust he had in all of us and for the patience he had with me. Jakub is a genius artist and I really learned a lot from him and the whole process. This was something completely different from anything I've done so far, a real challenge and pleasure. This style of work requires a lot of sweat, creativity and synchronicity between all of us on stage and those off stage involved in the performance, making it, as you say, total theatre.

How do you feel about working on your home stage in the Theater for Children and Youth?

- To be honest, I feel at home. We work and socialize on stage, but also off it. There is a lot of love in TDM. I am very glad to work with extraordinary people. Unfortunately, TDM has huge potential and little space. We need a bigger stage and better working conditions to show all that we have and can convey to the audience.

Teamwork with colleagues on stage and with other collaborators in the plays is especially important in the theater. What kind of common spirit is needed for a play to experience success both in front of children and at festivals?

- True, theater is a team work and therefore mutual positive energy is needed. Both the audience and the jury feel that and finally reward him.

(The text was published in "Cultural Press" number 180, in the printed edition of the newspaper "Sloboden Pechat" on 27-28.5.2023)