The Man Outside (, literally Outside, at the door) is a play by Wolfgang Borchert, written in a few days in the late autumn of 1946. It made its debut on German radio on 13 February 1947. 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. He finds every door he comes to closed; even nature seems to reject him. Due to its release during the sensitive immediate postwar period, Borchert subtitled his play "A play that no theatre wants to perform and no audience wants to see." Despite this, the first radio broadcast (February 1947) was very successful. The first theatrical production of The Man Outside (at the Hamburger Kammerspiele) opened on the day after Borchert's death, 21 November 1947. The play consists of five scenes in one act. It makes use of expressionist forms and Brechtian techniques, such as the Verfremdungseffekt (estrangement effect) to disorient and engage its audience. Characters The list of characters, translated from the original text of the play: Beckmann, one of them His Wife, who forgot him Her Friend, who loves her A Woman, whose husband came home with one leg Her Husband, who dreamed of her for a thousand nights A Colonel, who is very merry His Wife, feeling so cold in her warm parlour The Daughter, just over for dinner Her Courageous Husband A Cabaret Director, with daring goals, but less stamina Frau Kramer, who is just Frau Kramer, which is horrible The Old Man, in whom no one believes anymore The Undertaker with a case of the hiccups A Street Sweeper, who actually does not have that profession The Other, whom everyone knows The Elbe 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. At first, he feels distanced from his life, thinking it is a film. But slowly he realizes that it is an "all-day film". Plot synopsis Prologue The play begins with an overfed undertaker (apparently Death) with gas (belching) examining a body by the river Elbe, not the first one. The body does not appear to belong to a soldier, although he is