Silently Strikes the Clock (2007), a play by one of the most important contemporary Slovene writers and dramatists Drago Jančar, is an unusual text for the stage. The play is comprised of seven scenes or seven one-act plays which, at first sight, have nothing in common. In fact, they are linked by the time of day at which they take place. The author explains: ” The first part takes place at eleven in the evening and is similar to our life. The second part takes place at four in the morning and is slightly unusual. Sometimes it seems to us that it takes place in some other world…”
All the scenes are nocturnal. In this play, the night reveals seven different faces of the world. It is a night of dirty business, a night of terror, a night of vigil, a night of sleeplessness, a night of treason, a night of revelation and secrecy, in short, and evil night. Each human step in this night is a sin. Even the devil has hidden in the corner, from which he silently observes the going-on. He is silent because he’s lost his mission, he no longer needs to win people over to his cause. On their own, people outdid him long ago. Depicting a dark, dismal, nearly Dantean picture of contemporary Slovene society, the play will Shatter our usual conceptions of our world and perhaps also upset many a person.