The Jury of 13th INFANT, whose members are Katalin Ladik an actress, performance artist and poet, André Wülfing a theatre director and the manager of the Consol Theatre in Gelsenkirchen and the Jury Chairperson Jelena Bogavac theatre director, saw fifteen performances in the period from 25th June to 2nd July 2007.

Firstly, we would like to give our praise to the selection made by this year’s selector Nela Antonović, which was very good and of high quality. Not only in the main program, but in the off-programme as well, she showed us that there is a whole gamut of different ways of thinking about new theatrical forms. The performances affected our minds and sensitivity in different ways, thus pointing to the basic polarity of the tendencies present in the contemporary theatre.

Jury’s position was very pleasant and very difficult at the same time. It was a pleasure to enjoy the brilliant performances, and it was hard to compare, single out and award some of them as well as to formulate the awards.

Each performer not mentioned here can be sure that their work has, nonetheless, aroused and deserved our attention and interest.

After a long discussion, the Jury has finally reached the following unanimous decision to award:

As the Best Performance as a Whole - the performance “Antigone” by the Beton hala Theatre from Belgrade, directed by Ivana Vujić. This performance, in our opinion, is something which can be called “real theatre”, however disputable this may sound. Engaging almost all theatrical tools, without excessiveness – such as expressive acting, choreography, music from different periods and different styles, as well as documentary video material, with the purpose of furthering the Brechtian procedure, enriching it with the experiences of our time and space - this performance proves that all the basic human stories are relevant even today, perfected with content and sensibility of our reality. 

For Contribution to the Research into Special Segments of Theatrical Expression - the performances “The Maiden Taken to Heaven” of the Hungarian Jászberény Theatre authored by Tibor Várszegi, and “Body Fragments” by Theaterlabor from Germany directed by Siegmar Schröder. These performances have shown different possibilities of treating theatrical space, achieving visual beauty at the same time.

For Research into the Possibilities of Borderline Theatrical Areas - the performances “I Sing like a Bird” of the Blue Theatre from Belgrade directed by Nenad Čolić, and “Handle with Great Care“ authored by Dalija Aćin from Belgrade. Both performances convincingly explore, by use of opposite treatment, the possibilities of changing the theatrical act, both formally and qualitatively, thus showing the way for further re-examination and at the same time taking the challenge to step over the boundaries of the theatrical practices mastered so far.