The poetics of the drama brings to mind Beckett’s work. The ritualisation of physical and verbal actions through repetitiveness, precision, regularity and concentration gives them an almost religious character. Stage directions are as important as dialogue. You can implement the clues in them on stage, but it is no less fun to simply read them. In this ritualisation of trivial everyday activities, in giving them a poetic dimension, in creating a picturesque effect "from nothing" - the drama can also bring to mind the prose of Myśliwski. Or Grzegorzewski’s theatre (for both of them the scene of "poetic" peeling of an apple described in the stage directions would fit in perfectly well).
Long, gray, thinned hair and a disorderly beard, thick socks on legs and threadbare slippers, in hands: a spoon, a book, or an old hat. All we know about the Old Man is that he once loved, and he loved two beings: a woman and a dog. He could not live without her, every short parting was an ordeal, but he also could not live with her - only "with her and without her". He stared with reverence at the window of the house, standing in the shade of an increasingly leafless apple tree, postponing the moment of his return infinitely, enjoying the fact that she "is there for him". So the woman left, but there was the god left, which, as well as the memory of her, became the purpose of every day - and at least he could get truly close to the dog. But after the woman, he lost his dog. "You haven't protected let go embraced anything”. The Old Man was left alone with his emptiness filled with a ritual of trivial, unnecessary activities, physiology (washing, toilet, dressing, eating, sleeping or insomnia) and constant consideration of finally washing the piled up dishes. He moves around, digging corridors among papers, souvenirs and trash. Always in a certain order: bed - window - toilet - bowl - kitchen - table - box. His thoughts circulate from "station" to "station" of his torment, of which there are, of course, fourteen:
"The first where I met her for the first time / The second where I touched her for the first time / The third where she cried because of me for the first time / The fourth where I was unfaithful to her / The fifth where I came back with a promise of improvement / The sixth where I doubted our future / The seventh where I regained hope and shared hope with her / The eighth where I saw something in her eyes that terrified me This was her future departure / The ninth where calm came, built on the sand of our days and nights/ The tenth where she said life was a pile of dirty dishes and I didn't believe her / The eleventh where she laughed at my words about love tricks / The twelfth where I didn't keep an eye on her I let her out of my arms / The thirteenth was the station where I lost all, my last living creature / The fourteenth where my pyre burned down and darkness absorbed the smoke from my pyre"
For all activities, as well as breaks between them, the exact time is determined by the author - 7 or 10 seconds. The whole action of the drama is repeated in three successive rounds at an increasing pace. During the action and during the breaks you can hear the clock striking the hour steadily.
Dog is a beautiful, lyrical impression - about love, loneliness, emptiness and filling it up, about waiting - the value of which is intensified by the lack of definition, the lack of closure. This drama is a bit like a prayer of supplication, like moving the beads of a rosary in your fingers. This supplication will probably not be answered, but it will relieve despair, give meaning to your days.