Synopsis:
Two couples, one Danish one English, share a warm Whitsun holiday in the Cambridgeshire countryside. KARL-OLAF, a historian, is spending a post-graduate year in Cambridge with his wife, JANIKA, a social worker, and their two children. RAPHAEL, professor of history of art, (and one time senior lecturer to KARL-OLAF), together with his wife, MADEAU, are visiting the Danes. Balmy days are spent eating, cycling, lazing in the sun, listening to music, and conversing. KARL-OLAF and JANIKA are having matrimonial problems. RAPHAEL is going through a crisis of political belief, with MADEAU anxiously looking on. The calm and balmy days contrast with tensions of heart and mind.
Excerpt:
"Welcome! It's nice to have you come and look after us again. We Danes are a people crippled with guilts. We feel guilty for having what the Third World hasn't, our men feel guilty for not being women, our professors feel guilty for not being workers, our actors feel guilty for not being the characters they portray, in fact we all feel guilty for not being each other! The English, on the other hand, who've been around for so long without interruption feel guilty for nothing. So, it's good to have you with us. Welcome!"