Kyttyrä-selkäinen tahi Työn voima: Porvarillinen näytelmä neljässä näytöksessä

In a bustling nineteenth‑century German city, the household of a proud industrialist becomes a stage for clashing ideals. The owner, a stern man of wealth, spends his mornings buried in letters while his weary accountant worries over the mounting debts of the proprietor’s wayward son. Their conversations reveal a world where leisure is condemned as the root of moral decay, and where the promise of profit fuels both invention and exploitation.

Around them gather a cast of sharp‑tongued workers and hopeful relatives: a brilliant mechanic who has designed a new steam carriage, his sister, and a mysterious “cat‑backed devil” who haunts the factory’s margins. Their desperate pleas for advance cash expose the fragile balance between ambition and desperation, setting the scene for a drama that questions whether the power of work can ever outweigh the lure of idle comfort.