Tmu-na Theatre presents THE MAN OUTSIDE

By: A.A. Cristi Feb. 28, 2017

"One of the many who comes home - and then don't come home, because there's no home there for them any more."

In this way begins Wolfgang Borchert's play about the German soldier Beckmann. Beckmann returns to his home in Hamburg after World War II and finds his wife in the arms of another man. He decides to jump to the Elbe River in order to end his life but his attempt is unsuccessful and leads Beckmann to a journey from one closing door to another:

He meets a girl who dresses him in her husband's clothes. Her husband is MIA but then he surprisingly returns home.

He goes to visit his previous commander and tries to blame the deaths of his friends on him but the commander makes fun of him and doesn't take his allegations seriously.

So does the door of the cabaret's manager shuts in his face- his application to work there is denied because the manager doesn't want to hear war stories.

Rejected and exhausted, Beckmann sees a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a woman who wants him, but the light appears too late.

"The Man Outside" tells a universal story of a soldier who is trying to find his place in a war-repressing society. The return home, which he was waiting for so long, turns out to be a painful disappointment and an insulting feeling of strangeness. His return to society and his meetings with acquaintances from the past are accompanied with feelings of guilt and he is sent away from every house he enters. As the lies that led to the war are being discovered as larger, as the policy that led to the war is exposed as controversial, the soldier's return to society becomes more burdening and destructive. Back then, as today.

Wolfgang Borchert (born in Hamburg, 1921)- Served as a soldier in World War II and was sent to prison after he criticized the Nazi dictatorship. In 1944 he was sentenced to a death penalty because of his beliefs, but the sentence was changed and he was sent to the Russian front. In 1945 Borchert returned in a severe medical condition to the ruined Hamburg. During the last two years before he passed away, as he was bedridden Borchert wrote most of his poems and stories. He died at the age of 26 a day before the premiere of his play "The Man Outside" in Hamburg.

Tmu-na Theatre is a community theatre and performance place, featuring acts that veer towards the fringe and avant garde. The theatre was founded in 1986 by Nava Tzukerman, at first as a place for fringe productions of the ensemble of the theatre. Since 1999 the place has also developed into a multidisciplinary center for dance, music, literature and fine art. It exhibits annually more than 1000 cultural shows and events in these various fields.

Written by: Wolfgang Borchert
Translation: Gad Kaynar.
Direction: Matias Graetz
Set design: Aya Bakh.
Costume design: Liron Minkin.
Lighting design: Amir Castro.
Music: The Doors.
Assistant Director: Mor Lidor.
Cast: Alon Openhaim, Dori Engel, Maya Har Zion, Yael Nivron, Eyal Shecter.

Play duration: 90 minutes.

Tmu-na Theatre, 8 Soncino Street, Tel Aviv.

For tickets and further information click here.