The story of the Boško Buha Theatre, like many theatre stories, begins with Branislav Nušić. According to his idea, in 1937, the "Privileged Theater for Children and Youth of Roda" was created. The first Roda premiere, scheduled for January 19, 1938, was cancelled because Branislav Nušić died on that day. The premiere was held on January 23, and the Theater, under the direction of the writer's daughter Gita Predić Nušić and the married couple Vukadinović, worked at full capacity until 1941. The most famous play from that period is "Rista sportista" based on a play by the famous actress Ljubinka Bobić, and the popularity of that play is also evidenced by the fact that in 1939, a comic strip of the same name began to be published in Politika.

After the liberation of Belgrade in 1945, the founders of the Rodi Theater continued their work under the auspices of the Pionirski Theater, which performs its performances in other Belgrade theatres. However, it was closed in the same year with the explanation that "it is not pedagogical for children to engage in acting and ballet, that it is even extremely harmful to their age, that in the theatre they are exposed to the danger of acquiring sick ambitions and that it is better to devote themselves only to learning ". Thus, Belgrade was left without a theatre for children for five years.

It was only at the end of 1950 that Gita Predić-Nušić managed to get permission to start a new children's theatre. Thus, on October 13 of that year, the Boško Buha Theater was founded, and children were given back their right to the theatre.

From its establishment to today, about three hundred titles have been played on our stage, and close to five million children, their parents and teachers have passed through our hall. We would not be wrong if we say that the first generations of the audience bring their grandchildren to the performances today.

From the beginning of its work until today, the main repertoire of the Boško Buha Theater is fairy tales and classics for children. Some of the plays have been in the repertoire for decades, such as "The Stolen Prince and the Lost Princess" by Dan Toter directed by Lulet Stanković, a Serb lover, which was performed five hundred and forty-eight times, and "The Tale of the Emperor and the Shepherd" by Boško Trifunović, directed by Miroslav Belović performed four hundred and seventy times. Even today's titles, fairy tales directed by Milan Karadžić are experiencing their hundredth and even two hundredth performances. The Boško Buha Theater is the first and only children's theatre that participated and was awarded at the Sterija Theater and at the Biennale in Venice. There are also participations at MESS in Sarajevo, at the Kotor Children's Theater Festival, at the Children's Festival in Šibenik, and at other important festivals in the country, the region, and abroad.

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The repertoire of Scenes for children

Archive of plays

The evening scene of the Boško Buha Theater was opened on several occasions, first as the Youth Scene, and then as the Scene at the Horse. This present-day, under the simple name Večernja scena, opened in 2005 with a season of Play Shakespeare (The Taming of the Shrew, Two Knights of Verona, Epiphany Night, Othello), followed by a season of Renaissance comedy (Mandragola, Mirandolina Tavern, Decameron), then theatrical adaptations of movie hits (I don't know what sex is, but the question is the answer, Boy Who Promises...). It further developed in the direction of ensemble comedy based on the works of classics such as Nušić, Šekpir and Labiš, or contemporary ones such as Dario Fo, Michael Frein, Patrick Barlow and Goran Marković. Of course, as it is the obligation of the Boško Buha Theater to address the young audience and plays that deal with its present-day problems, preoccupations and topics that may be taboo, and to which the theatre intended for this target group the obligation to devote itself, we staged plays such as " "Instant Sexual Education" by Đorđe Milosavlljević and "Watch Out" by Milan Marković, who participated in Sterija's stage, from where "Instant Sexual Education" returned with Sterija's prize for collective dance. The pieces "Game in the Dark", also by Đorđe Milosavljevic and "Decision Day" by Kit Redin, belong there.

A theatre that brings a smile back to the face, a theatre that forms true lovers, a theatre that excites and awakens, all these are the faces of the Boško Buha Theater that we want to present to young and adult audiences.

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The repertoire of the Evening Scene

The Boško Buha Theater was the organizer of the TIBA Festival (Theatrical International Belgrade Adventure), the largest international theatre festival for children and young people. Thanks to this festival, troupes from all over Europe and the world passed through Belgrade's theatres. In addition to the opportunity to gain insight into their work, initiatives on co-productions and international collaborations were launched at that festival, and as a special activity, workshops and lectures dedicated to school pedagogues were set aside, the goal of which was to establish closer cooperation between schools and theatre as the two most important institutions in development young generations.

The ensemble of the Boško Buch Theater has always consisted of the most recognized drama artists who have focused a significant part of their career on work for children and young people. Twenty-five actors are currently employed in the ensemble of the Boško Buha Theater (Aleksandar Radojičić, Aleksandra Simić, Andrija Milošević, Andrijana Oliverić, Boba Latinović, Bojana Ordinačev, Borka Tomović, Branislav Platiša, Viktor Savić, Vladan Dujović, Goran Jevtić, Dejan Lutkić, Draga Ćirić, Dragoljub Denda, Zoran Cvijanović, Ivana Lokner, Jelena Trkulja, Katarina Gojković, Katarina Marković, Miloš Vlalukin, Nemanja Oliverić, Nenad Nenadović, Teodora Ristovski and Uroš Jovčić), and Predrag Miki Manojlović also took his first acting steps in this theatre. Neda Arnerić, Olga Odanović, Boda Ninković, Goran Šušljik and others. We also collaborate with the most important directors (Miroslav Belović, Minja Dedić, Bojan Stupica, Paolo Madjeli, Dejan Mijač, Milan Karadžić, Jagoš Marković, Jug Radivojević, Nikita Milivojević...) and writers (Milovan Vitezović, Miodrag Stanisavljević, Ljubivoje Ršumović, Stevan Koprivica, Igor Bojović, Milena Bogavac, Milan Marković...) of all generations. Our constant collaborators are stage designers such as Geroslav Zarić and Aleksandar Denić, costume designers Angelina Atlagić, Zora Mojsilović, Jelena Stokuća and composers Aleksandar Lokner and Momčilo Bajagić, Kornelija Kovač, Zoran Simjanović and others.

The main goal and desire of the artists who work at the Boško Buch Theater are to get closer to children and young people so that they don't even notice it (so by no means didactic, "ex catedra" approach), and to encourage them to actively think about the problems that surround them and participate in solving them. The thought has been repeated many times that the most important thing is to deal with the generations yet to come because in a decade or two they will be the ones who will decide. This is exactly why we are trying to provide children and young people with better content that they will grow up with, which, unfortunately, is becoming less and less today. Productions for children and young people at the Boško Buha Theater are approached in the most professional possible conditions, without making a distinction between theatres for children and adults. We believe that it is disastrous to consider children's theatre as low-level theatre and that young audiences should be approached with the same seriousness and respect as adults.

The desire of all people involved in theatre is to change the world. No matter how impossible that ambition sounds, we are sure that a theatre that deals with the generations yet to come can do it, even if it is in very small, barely noticeable steps.

Dobrila Matić, the first winner of Sterija's award at the Boško Buha Theatre, for the role of Empress in the play "Biberče" by Ljubiša Đokić, directed by Miroslav Belović:

"Applause is to an artist what the smile of his beloved is to a young man." Our audience, children, cannot applaud. More precisely, he can't yet. We, the actors in the children's theatre, remain like that, too often without that first, immediate reward for the pain, for the sweat. A well-intentioned but uninformed observer, quick to jump to conclusions, would think that we are unhappy because our questions remain unanswered because we act and speak in an echoless space. But we have learned to hear the silent echo of our audience. We know that little ones applaud with an accelerated rhythm of the heart, moisture in the eyes, and a grimace of joy and sadness. Our beloved smiles only with her soul. We never, when we play well, remain unrewarded with that silent, nobler and more beautiful prize. We know: just like the palms of adult viewers, our viewers have their little hearts in check long after the performance. And that's why we're happy."

Ljubivoje Ršumović, the greatest living poet for children and the long-term administrator of Buha:

"The flea is a school. It educates the future theatre audience. It educates those who have a sense for boards that mean life. Raise high aesthetic criteria in children. The flea is a tradition. Buha was directed by the best, from Bojan Stupica to Milan Karadžić. Miki Manojlović used to walk in Buha, because his parents, actors in Buha, had no one to leave him with. Buha's pubic hair is the most beautiful. Buha is a jumping champion. Snail and Pinocchio and Duško also jump, but Buha jumps over them. And when it stings - they love Buhu. The flea does not compete with others, it competes with itself. More play, more spirit, Boško Buha Theatre."

Jovan Ćirilov, theatre expert, playwright, and director:

 "Buha is the only theatre for which I regret that I was born too early."

Miroslav Belović, one of the directors whose plays formed the direction of the Boško Buha Theatre:

"Solid and well-composed performances in Boško Buha are long-lived. They are shown for years, some decades, because new audiences are constantly coming. A fairy tale is the eternal freshness of the theatre, a valid theatre for children is the vestibule of a significant theatre for adults."

Paolo Maghelli, director, in a letter to the Boško Buha Theatre:

"You taught me that a child's fantasy is much bigger and freer than the imagination of adults. Now everyone knows that, while adults are trying with all their might to destroy this world, children are sailing with their eyes fixed on the sky."

Jagoš Marković, director:

"At Buha, I learned and discovered a lot about theatre directing itself. It was given to me by others. We created such an atmosphere that we went all the way, we were dying, we were young, crazy, gifted, and on fire. It was wonderful in Buha."