Publication
Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag. c1930
Status
Available
Description
Released after fifteen years in prison, trapped in a bureaucratic maze, petty criminal Wilhelm Voight wanders 1910 Berlin in desperate, hazardous pursuit of identity papers. Luck changes when he picks up an abandoned military uniform in a fancy-dress shop and finds the city ready to obey his every command. At the head of six soldiers, he marches to the Mayor's office, cites corruption and confiscates the treasury with ease. But still what he craves is official recognition that he exists. A nation heads blindly towards war as the misfit takes on the state in Ron Hutchinson's savagely funny new version of Carl Zuckmayer'sThe Captain of Köpenick, first staged in Germany in 1931.
User reviews
LibraryThing member antiquary
this story of a German ex-convict just before WWI who disguised himself as an Army officer and briefly seized control of the townhall of Kopenick is based on reality, but amazing still. I first saw it done in a wonderful production by an unofficial company at Canada's Stratford, a version which
a hymn while an officer whacks them with a stick; the hero dancing off with a dead woman at the end).
Later in Germany I gopt the chance to visit the real town hall where it happened, and there is a photo me me grinning over the safe the "captyain" looted. Detached from these memories, the actual play is rather wistful and perhaps only deserves a 3 or 4, but it has had quite an impact on Kopenick, which has a festival to recall the episode.
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contained episodes i later learned were not in the original but which vividly rcall (German prisoners singing a hymn while an officer whacks them with a stick; the hero dancing off with a dead woman at the end).
Later in Germany I gopt the chance to visit the real town hall where it happened, and there is a photo me me grinning over the safe the "captyain" looted. Detached from these memories, the actual play is rather wistful and perhaps only deserves a 3 or 4, but it has had quite an impact on Kopenick, which has a festival to recall the episode.
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LibraryThing member bullfinch
One of my favourite plays, warning of the danger of simply following orders.
Language
Original language
German
Original publication date
1931