Sent to Dachau for being gay, Max declines to wear the pink triangle. Instead, he claims a yellow star, believing Jewish prisoners may be treated with a fraction more mercy. In a camp built to strip men of identity and hope, survival becomes an act of daily defiance. There, Max renews his friendship with Horst - a fellow prisoner who wears his pink triangle with pride. As brutality closes in, an unexpected love takes hold, challenging Max's fear and self-denial. In a place designed to erase dignity,
love becomes his rebellion, giving him the courage to finally claim his true self.

Bent took London by storm when it was first seen at the Royal Court Theatre, London, starring Ian McKellen and Tom Bell. It transferred via the Criterion Theatre to Broadway, where it received a Tony nomination for Best Play and won The Dramatists' Guild Hull-Warriner Award. In 1990 Sean Mathias directed a National Theatre revival of the play, followed by a film version starring Mick Jagger, Jude Law, Ian McKellen and Clive Owen. 2006 saw a new West End production by Daniel Kramer, starring Alan Cumming and Chris New. The play has now been performed in 60 countries.

Talk and reading at Books on the Rise bookstore in Richmond as part of LGBTQ+ history month
Netgalley
social media
press release
advertising



About the Author

Martin Sherman was born in Philadelphia, educated at Boston University and now lives in London. His early plays include 'Passing By', 'Cracks' and 'Rio Grande', all originally presented by Playwrights Horizons in New York. 'Bent' premiered at the Royal Court in 1979, transferred to the Criterion Theatre and was then presented on Broadway, where it received a Tony nomination for Best Play and won the Dramatist Guild's Hull-Warriner Award. 'Bent' has been produced in over 60 countries, and has been turned into a ballet in Brazil, and, in 1989, was revived at the National Theatre. It has been voted one of the NT2000 'One Hundred Plays of the Century'.
His next plays were 'Messiah' (Hampstead and Aldwych Theatres, 1983), 'When She Danced' (King's Head, 1988; Gielgud, 1991), 'A Madhouse in Goa' (Lyric Hammersmith and Apollo, 1989), 'Some Sunny Day' (Hampstead, 1996), 'Rose' (National Theatre, 1999), 'Gently Down the Stream' (Public Theatre, New York, 2017) and 'I'll Be Seeing You' (Pitlochry Festival Theatre, 2026).
His screenplays include 'The Clothes in the Wardrobe' (US title: 'The Summer House'), 'Alive and Kicking', 'Bent', 'Callas Forever', 'The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone', 'Smyrna', and 'Frank and Percy'.

Reviews

"This is an important play... 'Bent,' is powerful, thought-provoking theater, and it should not be missed."
~ New York Times

"A heroic myth ... It has the laughter which Yeats asserted lay at the heart of tragedy."
~ John Elsom, The Listener

"Fascinating ... a work of considerable dignity and passion"
~ Michael Billington, The Guardian

"Undeniably powerful"
~ Sunday Express

"Sherman's truthful and shattering love story"
~ Time Out

"Sherman dramatises the journey to oblivion of Max, a young gay German, from the morning after a hedonistic night of sex and cocaine in 1934 to Dachau ... Bent looks now [in 1999] like a tremendous post-war theatre classic."
~ Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard

Awards
Winner of Dramatists Guild Hull Warriner Award 1980. Runner-up for Tony Award 1980.



Book Information
ISBN 9781738476916
Author Martin Sherman
Format Paperback
Page Count 96
Imprint Amber Lane Press Ltd
Publisher Aurora Metro Publications
Weight(grams) 112g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 7mm