The Man Outside
The Man Outside describes the hopelessness of a post-war soldier called Beckmann who returns from Russia to find that he has lost his wife and his home, as well as his illusions and beliefs.
The first theatrical production of The Man Outside (at the Hamburger Kammerspiele) opened on the day after Borchert's death, 21 November 1947.
It makes use of expressionist forms and Brechtian techniques, such as the Verfremdungseffekt (estrangement effect) to disorient and engage its audience.
The list of characters, translated from the original text of the play: Following the character list, there is a short introduction (two paragraphs) to the play (similar to the original dramatic use of a prologue): "A man" (Beckmann) returns to his German home town, but there is nobody to go to.
The play begins with an overfed undertaker (apparently Death) with gas (belching) examining a body by the river Elbe, not the first one.
The girl laughs at Beckmann's gasmask goggles, which he continues to wear, because without them he can't see.
In that dream, a fat man (Death again) plays a Military March on a very large xylophone made from human bones.
The scene opens with a monologue from the Direktor (i.e. owner and producer of an off-off theatre) about the importance of Truth in art.
Beckmann gives a couplet, turning up to be a morose summary of the play up to this point, the melody taken from a popular war time song, Tapfere kleine Soldatenfrau ("brave little soldier’s wife").
Dwelling on the suffering cannot accomplish anything; you can make things better by focusing on the good; as he says, "Do you fear the darkness between two lamp-posts?"
Finally, after the girl and her one-legged husband have left, a desperate Beckmann begins a long monologue, at the end of which he demands an answer from the Other; who is fading away.
The relatively short play is largely dominated by its protagonist Beckmann, who frequently delivers monologues, including ending the drama in this way.
By using colloquial language, Beckmann is portrayed as the average person - "one of those", as he is introduced in the dramatis personae - who uses military slang expressions such as "crash out", "drown" and "booze".
Mrs Kramer is characterised through her ordinary vocabulary as part of the petite bourgeois, while the personified Elbe River is a coarse but maternal and tough woman.
A door slamming shut ends each stage of Beckmann's journey, after which he finds himself "the man outside".
The collapse of the old order, as well as German cities lying in ruins, radically changed forms of expression in literature.
The Man Outside is one of a large number of similar works based on the theme of soldiers returning home from war.
The vast majority of radio dramas produced in the years following the war with returning soldiers in central roles focused on their private problems.
The topic of adultery, for example, was often a central theme, whilst wartime experiences themselves remained largely ignored.
The soldier returning home was mostly depicted as an outsider, and through his eyes it was possible to take an alienated view of the present.
In many cases, what the plays had in common was their didactic appeal and great moral gestures, which can also be seen in Beckmann's pathos in The Man Outside.
[5] The play received its US debut at the President Theatre in New York on March 1, 1949 under the name Outside the Door.
It was directed by the head of the Dramatic Workshop, German expatriate stage director Erwin Piscator.
It holds that the common man, selfish and complacent, is responsible for the horrors that accompany and follow world conflict.
