There is no precise data on the number of people living on the streets in Slovenia. According to the latest estimates, there are at least 3300 of them. Due to their social status, they are often discriminated against, which worsens their situation instead of improving their living conditions. Former homeless person from Ljubljana, Tomo Golob - known as Taubi - traded drugs and alcohol on the streets for the adrenaline of mountaineering and theater.
For the first time this season, at the Šentjakobsko gledališče in Ljubljana, the autobiographical play "Pred vrati postave," of which he is the writer and director, is being performed. The theater is "a place where I can free my soul," he says. The play sheds light on the recovery period of an addict who is trying to reorganize his life but gets caught in absurd bureaucratic mechanisms driving him to madness.
Tomo Golob titled his play after Franz Kafka's eponymous short story (Before the Law). The main character, Mr. K., has only one desire: to enter a "normal life." The story is based on Taubi's real-life experience when he attempted to get his driver's license for the fourth time after losing it three times for drunk driving. However, in the play, Mr. K. succumbs to an inhumane and bureaucratic system and returns to alcohol.
A difficult reintegration
In real life, the story has a happier ending. The author managed to defeat his demons. "I reflected on why I was taking drugs and drinking, and I realized it was because of the adrenaline. Then, it was replaced by mountain hikes," he explains.
Then he quickly realized that he couldn't rely on public transportation and needed to retake his driver's license to be able to get to the starting points of the hikes. "I had to retake it for the fourth time. I advise anyone with a driver's license not to lose it. For nine months, I was sent from office to office, from administration to psychologist. I don't know what they didn't ask me. I lost patience and was even on the verge of falling back into alcohol."
An attempt at reintegration that almost failed. Luckily, he was stronger than his character in the play. The experience that made him angry became the foundation of the drama he wrote and sublimated. "Theater, writing, that's where I can free myself, empty myself. Then I am calm."
"Already at the first meeting, Taubi made a great impression on me by breaking many stereotypes about the homeless," remembers the director of the Šentjakob Theatre, Milan Golob. He decided to include the work in the theatre's repertoire mainly because of its artistic value. "It became clear that we had somehow exceeded the initial framework of amateur theatre, repertoire, and urban setting."
The performance, which does not take place on the main stage, but in an abandoned shelter tunnel under the hill of Ljubljana Castle connected to the theater spaces, "has generated a real enthusiasm and attracted a new audience to the theater," notes Milan Golob.
An inclusive and relevant project
"Before the Law" has recently received special recognition because this project appears socially and culturally inclusive and relevant. It was created in co-production with the Šentjakob Theatre, the association KUD Pozitiv, and Kralji ulice, a homeless assistance association.
"It is precisely the association, with its expertise and experience in working with marginalized people, that provides invaluable support for raising awareness and destigmatizing marginalized groups in the population. Those who are truly at rock bottom. Taubi's experience is individual, yet precious. It deserves to be shared with a wider audience as a universal experience with which each of us can identify. I believe that theater is the art that most effectively educates empathetic feelings in the viewer. It nurtures them in deeds, in actions, both on an individual and societal level," adds Milan Golob.
The "vagabond" hikes
The theater is proud today of the performance of "Pred vrati", which played to a full house during the last run of the season. "It's normal to have doubts, I am not a professional director. But when I step on stage, I am in another world. Theater is my life. I cannot imagine living without it," concludes Taubi, who is already planning new creations.
Building on this success, Tomo Golob turns to others. In Ljubljana, he organizes "hobo hikes," where he takes interested members of the public to the city's neighborhoods where homeless people gather. Occasionally, university professors invite him to conferences to share his experience of addiction with students. Another way to move forward. And now, with a permit in his pocket, Taubi goes to the mountains at least once a week. The adrenaline is always there!
The Šentjakob Theatre (Théâtre Saint-Jacques) is one of the oldest amateur theaters with a regular repertoire in Europe. It has been operating since 1920.
