
In a cramped bank office, the day begins with the clatter of cash registers and the impatient tapping of a cashier’s fingers. A well‑dressed lady arrives, demanding a large sum, while a rotund patron lounges in a pipe‑sofa, offering sardonic commentary. The young director, nervous yet eager to impress, navigates a maze of paperwork, signatures, and bureaucratic hurdles, each exchange revealing the absurdities of authority and the everyday struggle for legitimacy.
The dialogue crackles with wit, exposing the clash between selfish ambition and institutional rigidity. As the characters negotiate money, identity, and status, the play sketches a vivid portrait of a small town’s social hierarchy, hinting at larger tensions without revealing the outcome. Listeners are drawn into a lively, sharply observed tableau that balances humor with a thoughtful critique of the systems that govern ordinary lives.
Language
de
Duration
~1 hours (93K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Peter Becker and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2019-12-18
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1878–1945
A leading voice in German Expressionist drama, this prolific playwright helped shape the modern stage with bold, restless works that captured the tensions of early 20th-century Europe. His best-known plays include From Morn to Midnight and the Gas trilogy.
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