Barbara Frey and the Vienna Burgtheater’s acting company have created a wonderfully tragicomic evening of theatre that puts the rarely performed author Anna Gmeyner back in the spotlight. The provincialist Adam saves the beautiful stranger Eva from suicide by drowning and takes her along to the 'Automatenbüfett', the restaurant owned by his feisty wife. Eva’s arrival is an attraction to this largely male community and the shrewd Adam knows how to use it to further his plans. Anna Gmeyner’s characters are struggling desperately for civility but cannot help gradually revealing their own depravity. 'Automatenbüfett' is a rediscovery. Anna Gmeyner was a left-wing Jewish playwright, her writing was banned in Nazi-Germany. Gmeyner managed to escape to exile in Britain and never returned to Austria.