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The Captain of Köpenick Tickets

After 15 years in prison, trapped in a bureaucratic maze, Wilhelm Voigt wanders 1910 Berlin in desperate pursuit of identity papers.

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Performance dates

29 January – 4 April

National Theatre

Run time: null

Includes interval

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Released after fifteen years in prison, trapped in a bureaucratic maze, petty criminal Wilhelm Voigt 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’s The Captain of Köpenick, first staged in Germany in 1931. Antony Sher takes the title role.
 
 
 
National Theatre Tickets
National Theatre Tickets

Special notes

Audio-Described performances Fri 22 Mar at 7.30pm, Sat 23 Mar at 2pm (Touch Tour at 12.30pm) Captioned performance Wed 3 Apr at 7.30pm