In a remote tavern, somewhere in what seems to be a northern landscape, a regular patron, OLAV, begins asking the innkeeper, ANDREJ, about an almost forgotten story: how a woman named ANNA once arrived in the village, clutching a small child to her chest, seeking refuge on a farm. The farm owner, VLADIMIR, found her and wanted to shoot her, but his wife, LOTA, stopped him and forced him to take in the mother and child. ANNA soon died, and the child—called a “bastard” by the entire village because he was the son of a “whore”—grew up on the farm.

And all of this is merely the beginning of a tale whose many versions differ depending on who is telling it and how many bottles have been emptied. Various accounts of the story collide; the tension rises as the truth slowly yet relentlessly surfaces, along with unexpected connections to the present.

And the rifle is within reach.

And in this land, murderers are shot.

The story from the past comes back to life, whether those living in the present like it or not.

A brutally intense battle of words over the truth—but also over one's own identity, and perhaps even over survival itself.

The play won the Alfréd Radok Awards Drama Competition in 2011.