The masterpiece of the Austrian novelist and essayist Stefan Zweig (1881–1942), based on a piercing description of the psychology of human behaviour, was adapted for the stage by Daniel Špinar. “Everything started with inaptness, an entirely fortuitous blunder ...” On the eve of the first world war, Anton Hofmiller, an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer stationed in a sleepy town at the edge of the Empire, is invited to a glamorous party at the home of a rich local landowner. The exhilarated young man asks his host's lovely daughter for a dance, only to discover that sickness has left her painfully crippled. The embarrassed Hofmiller flees, yet on the very next day he attempts to remedy the dreadful faux pas. Subsequently, he becomes entangled in the trap of his own “compassionate gestures”, ultimately raising the girl’s affection.
