Manfred Karge (born March 1, 1938 in

Brandenburg an der Havel Brandenburg an der Havel () is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, which served as the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg until it was replaced by Berlin in 1417. With a population of 72,040 (as of 2020), it is located on the banks of the H ...

) is a German dramatist. He is best known among English-speaking audiences for the staging of

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

's "Mann ist Mann" (1926) as ''Man to Man''. From 1958 to 1961 he studied at the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

State Drama School in what was then

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. He was in Berlin at the time of the building of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

. His 1986 play "

The Conquest of the South Pole ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

" was first shown in Britain in 1988 with

Alan Cumming Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...

in the lead role at the

Traverse Theatre The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963 by John Calder, John Malcolm, Jim Haynes and Richard Demarco. The Traverse Theatre company commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary pla ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. This was then made into a film set in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

(the harbour area of Edinburgh) in 1989 starring

Ewen Bremner Ewen Bremner (born 23 January 1972) is a Scottish character actor. His roles have included Julien in ''Julien Donkey-Boy'' and Daniel "Spud" Murphy in '' Trainspotting'' and its 2017 sequel '' T2 Trainspotting''. Early life Bremner was born i ...

and

John Michie John Michie (born 25 October 1956) is a Scottish television and film actor, known for his roles as DI Robbie Ross in the STV detective drama series '' Taggart'', as Karl Munro in ''Coronation Street'' from 2011–2013 and his role as CEO Guy ...

.Guardian newspaper 1 May 2012

References

1938 births Living people People from Brandenburg an der Havel German dramatists and playwrights {{Germany-writer-stub