Thomas Bernhard's first comedy parabolically explores the situation of a circus director who is ambitious to achieve a highly perfect performance of Schubert's Trout Quintet. The daily rehearsals have turned into a ridiculous and torturous ritual, the purpose of which his fellow performers—the tightrope walker, the juggler, the clown, and the animal tamer—have long ceased to understand. They sabotage the rehearsals, attempt to destroy the instruments, and blackmail the director. He also knows that he will never achieve his goal, yet he remains relentless in his obsessive pursuit of perfection: "We hate the Trout Quintet, but it must be played.".