Vom Fest und den Gästen

It is a summer day. Several people in good humour are having a snack on a meadow. Josef is meticulously polite, Karel sips wine and keeps praising democracy, František proves to be a good companion, Eva and Marta are jolly girls. The only married couple is a talkative blonde and her taciturn and a bit withdrawn husband. After the snack, the company makes up, changes into cocktail dress and sets off to attend the birthday party of a high functionary. On a forest path, they are surrounded by a group of weird men. Rudolf, the leader of the gang, is seemingly sincere but in fact rather arrogant and aggressive. He divides the men and women into two groups and launches some kind of interrogation. Josef turns servile, Karel protests a little, becoming the target of Rudolf's assaults and minor violence. The host appears in between the trees in a white tuxedo, shouting Rudolf down but at the same time claiming him as his adopted son. All the visitors tenaciously pretend that everything was just a joke and seat themselves by set-up tables. The blonde weeps because her husband has left. He did not enjoy the company where no one likes anybody. The host feels offended. Rudolf decides to make everything right and sends his men headed by a dog-hunter to find the husband, arming himself with a gun. The subsequent man-hunt involves most of the guests. Those who remain put the candles off, sit by the tables in puzzlement and listen to the increasingly loud barking of a dog. (Verleiher-Text)