This collection features two plays by East German director and playwright Manfred Karge. Written in 1986, The Conquest of the South Pole takes as its subject four young, unemployed men in a small German town. They combat crippling boredom and despair through re-enacting Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole among washing hanging to dry in an attic. Man to Man is a one-woman play in which the character of Ella Gericke takes on the identity of her dead husband so that she can continue to work in his factory. Through the lens of Ella's reflection on her life, the history and politics of twentieth century Germany are unfolded.