Neues Globe Theater Potsdam: "Draußen vor der Tür" - Wolfgang Borchert's anti-war drama in a new production

A man comes home from the war - and finds no place left for himself. Beckmann, 25 years old, returns from Soviet captivity to a bombed-out Hamburg: his knee shot through, a gas-mask frame sitting on his face like something that doesn't belong. His wife has left him, the colonel refuses any responsibility, and the girl who saves him from drowning wants nothing to do with his suffering.

In a dream-like wandering, Beckmann encounters not only people but also larger-than-life figures: Death, the Elbe, God - and the Other, a mirrored version of himself. The play moves between realism, grotesque and lyric poetry, unfolding a layered theatrical world of linguistic power and existential depth.

Wolfgang Borchert wrote his only play in eight days, probably between autumn 1946 and January 1947. On 13 February 1947, Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk broadcast it for the first time as a radio play; the stage premiere followed on 21 November 1947 at the Hamburger Kammerspiele - one day after Borchert died in Basel at the age of 26. Intendant Ida Ehre stepped before the audience before the curtain rose and shared the news. Lead actor Hans Quest recalled in 1985 on NDR: "At the premiere, the audience sat in complete silence for several minutes after the curtain fell. Only then did the applause begin - and it would not stop."

Neues Globe Theater brings Borchert's drama to the stage in a new production - at a time when questions of military fitness, conscription and pacifism are being asked loudly once again.