Eve of Retirement – Thomas Bernhard

Praxis Theatre Company

First performance: November 26, 1999

[…] Written in 1979, Eve of Retirement unfolds over the course of a “dangerous” afternoon. The main characters are a former Nazi officer who now holds a high judicial position (Sofoklis Peppas) and his two sisters. The first sister (Anneza Papadopoulou) is disabled and holds left-wing beliefs, placing her in direct opposition to him, while the second sister (Betty Arvaniti) is a petite bourgeois with whom the protagonist has developed a rather “peculiar” relationship. The triggering of a traumatic past brings to light sinful relationships, relationships of conflict, and sometimes even comical relationships, as laughter often becomes the means chosen by the author to depict all aspects of reality. […]

Source: To Vima