Originating from the namesake template by Paul Auster, TIMBUKTU is an engaged play for youth, which directly discusses the issue of social exclusion through a story about the relationship between a homeless man and his dog. In the project TIMBUKTU the dog is not represented by the actor, the actor just lends his voice to him. The stage remains completely empty for 45 minutes, and the only activities are carefully planned motions of a trained dog, melding with the actor’s voice from the audience. In this monologue for the dog on stage, spoken by an actor in the audience, arises a mythical place, Timbuktu, in which all, including dogs and men, are equal, in direct juxtaposition to all today’s neoliberal order consists of.
The play, which was literally remote-controlled from the audience, reaches its culmination with the descent of an iron cage and the on-stage appearance of twelve dogs from a shelter for abandoned animals. The infusion of the real is rounded off by the appearance of real homeless people on stairs in the audience, who represented themselves in this play. This play discussed sensitive contemporary issues: abandoned dogs, as well as abandoned people, the care and neglect for those living close and among us, from whom we turn our eyes away, and the role of responsibility played by each of us. Along with that, TIMBUKTU was an organizationally extremely demanding and complex project that demanded a common platform and coordination of various institutions, associations and volunteers. Even though the story did not have a classic happy-end, the play offered the possibility of a completely new happy ending – the possibility to adopt twelve dogs from the Center for Care of Abandoned Animals. Three homeless canines were adopted after this play, proving that the theater can have a direct influence on the environment we live in.
