In the midst of war torn Albania a girl, yet innocent of the knowledge of pain and loss, is making her elderly next door neighbour a necklace. He, her only friend, is also the mortal enemy of her race, because he is a Serbian. Across this great divide the two unlikely friends ignore all prejudices and those that disapprove. Mirita (Leah Fells) and Gregor (Patrick Romer) will not allow differences of nationality and ancient feuds to come between them.
    A world of war surrounds these two characters, but no matter what is happening it does not touch the innocence of their friendship – until enemy soldiers of Gregor's race reach Mirita's house. 
   Dunkley beautifully shows how friendship and humanity can cross boundaries. He thereby shows too that it is those who see feuds and vengeance as important who are the world's real enemies. This is well displayed in the performances of subsidiary characters; Steve Crump as the soldier shows in addition how terrible deeds, unthinkable in peacetime, become commonplace in the chaos of war, and Michael Bottle as Besim uses the awful situation to bribe Mirita's mother into something that she would never agree to in normal circumstances.
    Patrick Romer is the star of this piece, bringing gravitas and mystery to his portrayal of an old mad Serb living in an Albanian village. He sets Gregor morally above all the other soldiers and villagers. He has already been to hell and back and now wants to be left in peace. Through the contrast he and Mirita represent, Dunkley shows how disastrously people lose their self identity in war; for most people, no matter who they are or what they have done, in war they become only one thing, in this case a Serb or an Albanian. Mirita out of innocence and Gregor out of experience cling to their identities as people. They don't care which side they are on; to them one is as bad as the other.
    Martin Harvey's direction and the cast's fluent and intuitive acting creates a sharp sense of realism, vividly evoking the destructive capacity of war and the human pity it brings.
Elizabeth Shenton