Odette Haussmann

Don’t turn the day into night – this enigmatic advice is given by mysterious Claude near the end of the play. She circles Thomas and Miriam, who meet nearly every day in a small run-of-the-mill café in “comfortable contemporary central Europe”, in ways that are only plausible to herself.
A completely mundane story shines through the tender and martial dialogues of the protagonists. Ethnology student Miriam regularly babysits the small son of Thomas and his wife Isabel. Thomas is planning a film project, as usual. This time, it’s supposed to be about Australian aborigines, which is Miriam’s specialty. Rich Isabel is supposed to sponsor the project and, consequently, Miriam’s assistance in it. The meetings in the café are – supposedly – for the preparation of the film.

But the erotic tensions win and retain power over their thoughts and conversations. Miriam and Thomas try to explore the character of their relationship and of erotic entanglements in general. Even when they are superficially talking about the object of their studies, they long for wilderness and originality and create their own rituals – in their dialogues as well as in space.
Café-owner Jelena is a more and more sympathetic eavesdropper. At first, she calmly comments on the scenes happening before her eyes – until she falls for the exhibitionistic game herself.