Two men and one woman are involved in a dramatic triangle between love and passion, transgression and betrayal. Florian Flicker has set Karl Schönherr’s “Der Weibsteufel” in Austria’s borderland shortly after the turn of the last century. In the remote swamps next to the March River, Hans and Jana are living in a criminal idyll that comes tumbling down when a young soldier enters the picture.

“Devilish Woman” is an old theatre play about two men and a woman involved in an emotional triangle which spirals out of control. I searched a long time for a key to adapt this century-old drama to the modern world and was overjoyed when I discovered a microcosm, even unknown to most Austrians: the area along the former “Iron Curtain”, the historical no man’s land between East and West, an untouched floodplain of forest and swamp, where not so long ago soldiers, smugglers, and refugees struggled to survive. This unique atmosphere and the unspoiled wilderness became a sort of fourth character in the drama. It influenced the script, the actors, and the entire project - a story about love and betrayal, and the fact that a common language between men and women has not yet been invented.