About the work
Bent is a play by the American dramatist Martin Sherman about the persecution of gay men in Nazi Germany. It premiered on 3 May 1979 at the Royal Court Theatre in London, directed by Robert Chetwyn and starring Ian McKellen as Max; the production transferred to the Criterion Theatre in the West End in July 1979. The German-language premiere was given in 1980 by the Nationaltheater Mannheim under the title "Bent – Rosa Winkel."
Plot
Max, a Berliner, is arrested along with his boyfriend Rudy after the 1934 Night of the Long Knives and deported to Dachau concentration camp. To avoid the pink triangle marking homosexual prisoners as especially at risk, he passes himself off as Jewish and wears the yellow star instead. In the camp he forms a deep bond with his fellow prisoner Horst, at first sustained only through glances and words; only after Horst is shot before his eyes does Max openly acknowledge his homosexuality, going to his own death.
Cultural significance
As one of the first major stage works to do so, Bent brought the then little-known Nazi persecution of homosexuals and the pink-triangle camp marking to wide public attention and helped spur historical research into the subject. Nominated for a Tony Award, the play has been performed in more than forty countries and was filmed in 1997 with Clive Owen and Ian McKellen.