Arči and Dora is a play about acceptance, empathy, and friendship — about how it is okay to be different, and how the bravest thing in the world is to be a good friend. Using the magic of shadow theatre and physical theatre, together with minimal and carefully selected text, we wanted to show that darkness is defeated with warmth, and hostility with a sincere wag of the tail.

One of the greatest challenges was bringing one of the most widely read children’s books to the stage and finding its new theatrical language — an authentic, “made in Serbia” story from Čačak, inspired by real Labrador dogs, the yellowish Arči and the chocolate-coloured Dora. We tried to remain faithful to the spirit of the original while telling the story in a way that would feel vivid, exciting, and close to today’s audience.

We chose to tell a story about what connects us, rather than what divides us. The youngest audience members, as well as those a little older, will recognize in this Tom-and-Jerry-style chase one great truth: no one has ever found happiness in mockery, and no one has ever won through hatred.

When you open the books of Goran Marković, and at the same time step in front of our book, which has quite literally come to life on stage, you enter a world where the most important language in the world is being learned — the language of friendship.

Anđelko Beroš