About a Lost Little Donkey

This curious little donkey sets off into a nearby forest in search of adventure. During his carefree wandering, he is startled by an unfamiliar rustling sound and soon finds himself lost among the trees. Courage returns to our frightened hero through an unexpected encounter with a new friend: a lively young deer. For a moment, it seems everything will be just fine, but before long, he is alone once again. Now the little donkey must find his way and follow it with more courage than ever before. Along the journey, he realises that sometimes there is no other choice but to face our fears head-on.

The inspiration for the story came to Marko “Mare” Bulc from a true event: in 2019, a Californian donkey named Diesel escaped from a farm and disappeared into the forest. It wasn’t until 2023 that his owners caught sight of him again in footage shared on social media by a hiker, who had come across a herd of wild deer in a forest clearing. Among them, an unusual “outsider,” the donkey Diesel, who had been accepted into their group.

Our wordless puppet performance is created using larger-scale puppets, often brought to life simultaneously by multiple puppeteers. An important role is also played by the immersive soundscape, where magical images of nature and its inhabitants intertwine. Since the animals in the performance communicate through sounds rather than words, the performers use their voices as instruments, helping to co-create—alongside the visual design—a vibrant forest clearing: a place where two different worlds meet and, through friendship, form new bonds.