Set at the dawn of the First World War, Nirvana is a harrowing portrayal of the failing marriage of Yavorov and Lora, two iconic characters in Balkan history, played out against the backdrop of a nation in crisis. It is the time when the seeds of the recent wars in the Balkans were sown, when revolutionary nationalist movements caught the romantic imagination of a whole generation, only to find their ideals shattered by the ‘realpolitik’ of the day. Yavorov and Lora’s tragic love unfolds into the nightmare of their last night together. The play’s cycle of suspicions, accusations and failed reconciliations tells the story of both a personal and national tragedy. Nirvana is a European classic. The English translation by Anna Karabinska was nominated for Revelations: The Gate Translation Award, 2002.