The Captain of Köpenick

Captain of Köpenick, The (Der Hauptmann von Köpenick)

    Author: Carl Zuckmayer

    First Performance: 1931, Berlin

    Published: 1930

    First English Translation: 1932

    Genre: Com. in 3 acts; German prose

    Setting: Berlin and environs, 1910

    Cast: 43m, 11f, 2 children (f)

Wilhelm Voigt is a 46-year-old cobbler in the working-class district of Köpenick in Berlin. Because he has been imprisoned for 15 years for a minor forgery, he is unable to obtain a residence permit and also has problems getting papers to allow him to leave Prussia. Observing how an army captain is treated with disrespect by the police because he is not wearing his uniform, Voigt becomes aware of the importance of military dress in a state like Prussia. After the death of a little child he read stories to, Voigt decides to be...

[The entire page is 356 words long]

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