THE CONQUEST OF THE SOUTH POLE A Play About Rumford Maine Mill Workers Comes to Snowlion Rep

Four unemployed Rumford Maine mill workers at the very edge of despair concoct an innovative way to empower themselves amidst the hardships of their lives. Led by their magnetic leader Slupianek (Ian Carlsen), they reenact, in an attic crowded with discarded furniture and hanging sheets, Amundsen's successful conquest of the South Pole, in order to face, and hopefully conquer, their own demons.

The Conquest of the South Pole by Manfred Karge (translated from the German by Calvin Maclean, Caron Cadle and Ralf Remshardt) will receive its New England premiere with Snowlion Repertory Company this winter at the Portland Ballet Studio Theater from January 26 through February 4.

When Snowlion Rep founders Al D'Andrea and Margit Ahlin saw the show at the Edinburgh International Theater Festival years ago (starring a then unknown Alan Cumming in the lead role), they vowed to one day produce the show, and now have been granted the rights to present a version set in Rumford, Maine.

This buoyant, energetic and highly stylized play explores the lives of young men without work and without purpose, facing a future filled only with the pinball machine and beer. By going on a journey of the imagination, however, the four friends challenge their own strengths and expose their own weaknesses, ultimately emerging from their expedition forever changed.

The Conquest of the South Pole will have seven performances:
Friday January 26 at 7:30 pm
Saturday January 27 at 7:30 pm
Sunday January 28 at 2:00 pm
Thursday February 1 at 7:30 pm
Friday February 2 at 7:30 pm
Saturday February 3 at 7:30 pm
Sunday February 4 at 2:00 pm

Performances are at the Portland Ballet Studio Theater, 517 Forest Avenue, Portland.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.snowlionrep.org or by calling (207) 518-9305.
For more information, visit www.snowlionrep.org.