Martin Sherman is a gay, Jewish playwright from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Boston University College of Fine Arts and got a BFA in dramatic arts in 1960. He has written to collections of gay themed plays. His other play Rose was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2000.
The first production was in 1979 at the West-End in London staring Sir Ian McKellen, and the Broadway version was in 1980 staring Richard Gere (Billy Flint, Chicago), which was nominated for a Tony Award. In 1990 Sean Mathias directed a revival of Bent, with Sir Ian McKellen, Paul Rhys and Christopher Eccleston (the 9th Doctor) and won a City Limits Award for Revival of the Year Sherman adapted the play for film in 1997 which was also directed by Mathias.
Sherman is currently in London and is 73 (give or take).
Before Bent not much was known about the treatment of homosexuals during the Holocaust, but the play helped to increase research between the 1980’s and 90’s.
Bent’s title refers to a European slang word that refers to homosexuals, and the play set during and after theNight of Long Knives. This was a period between June 30 and July 2, 1934, where Hitler had at least 85 people killed and over 1,000 arrested. Though most people killed were members of the SA, because one of the main targets was Ernst Röhm, a leader of the SA who openly flaunted his homosexuality, it meant that the gays were no longer safe from persecution.
1.Before the play, when you thought about the concentration camps in the Holocaust, did you think about any other groups of people besides the Jews? If not how does having read this play make you feel?
2. At first Max says he wasn’t in love with Rudy, he acted as if love wasn’t real. By the end of the play he has a change of heart, and said he did even though he can’t remember Rudy’s name. What are your opinons on this?
3.Do you think that Max and Horst actually care for each other or do they fill a void?
4. Compare and contrast the relationship Max shared with Rudy and Horst.
5. List examples of how the guards dehumanized the minority groups.
6. What is the significance of Greta being a man dressed as a woman?
7.Sherman uses destruction as a reoccurring theme throughout the play. Parallel the difference of what is destroyed of Rudy and Horst to what is destroyed of Max.
8. Max chooses to wear a gold star instead of a pink triangle. Do you think he wishes to erase his identity completely or just in this horrific setting?
9. When a Moslim dies in the camp it’s ok, but when a person kills themselves it’s an act of defiance. Do these different acts of suicide really have a difference in meaning? Why?
10. Why does Max count to ten?
11. Click on the picture below and look on the lower left side to read a review of Bent. Do you view Max as a "hero as every man"? Why or why not?
If you zoom into the picture, there is a small review of 'Bent'
ReplyDeleteI really loved this play! Max is one of those characters that you hate and feel bad for all at the same time. I've never given much thought to the other people in concentration camps but this play really opened my eyes to the people who were not only jewish but something else as well. What about the lesbians and gays? What about the transgendered people? All of these thoughts came rushing to my mind and I actually teared up a little. I can't even imagine a life where you are being hunted not only for your beliefs but for who you were born to be. And the pink triangles are bullshit. . . branding these people because of who they love. It made me sick. I loved the emotional range of Max and how much you can relate to him while being so different. if that makes any sense at all. :)
ReplyDelete1. I did know that gays and lesbians and other types were involved in the holocaust, but I didn't know it was that big of a deal. Honestly, if I ever get the time, I want to research this a bit because WWII is one of the few areas of history that I love and this play just added on to my curiosity. I never thought it was that significant and that's because in school all we ever talked about were Nazis and Jews. I had no idea that they KNEW who was gay and who wasn't; I always thought they just took people and if they were gay it didn't matter, you know. What really shocked me was the fact that they were hated even MORE than the Jews; in a way it makes since because we're usually taught that it's nasty and wrong and stuff like that, but more than Jews? I was like daaaaammmnnnn
ReplyDelete8. I think he just wanted to hide his identity, not so much because he was ashamed of it but because he wanted to have a fighting chance. He knew who he was and he was fine with that, but other people weren't. I mean, he would've basically been punished for being himself. Life was going to be hell regardless, but with a pink triangle, it would've been much worse because even though the Jews were hated, homosexuals were hated even more. I think he had hope; he figured that being a Jew was better than being a gay and he wanted an opportunity to live (for a lack of a better word) "better" I guess.
2. I don't think Max loved Rudy at the beginning of the play. Rudy was a companion, just someone to fill the void of loneliness. Max tells Rudy multiple times that he's "rotten," which can be interpreted as "incapable to care about other's feelings." Max was very self centered and put himself before everyone else. He wanted two tickets from his Uncle Freddy so he wouldn't be alone in Amsterdam, he wanted to live so he let Rudy die at his feet, he didn't want to be the lowest on the totem pole so he fucked a dead girl's body for a yellow star. Horst breaks him of his selfish behavior, especially in the scene near the end of the play when Max hold Horst in his arms and keeps him warm with his words... When Max realizes he's changed and he does love Horst, the only thing he can do to become un-rotten and show his true pink triangle is to jump into the fence while wearing Horst's jacket.
ReplyDelete1. I never thought of the different groups before I read this play. In the back of my mind I knew there were gay people sometimes, but I never thought about the criminals and other groups they described in the play.
ReplyDelete3. Definitely I think they fill a void. I don't think they truly cared for each other. I think they 'needed' each other to survive, and in that sense, they did what they had to do.
8. I think he chooses the star, because he wants to live. I don't think he wants to erase his identity. He just wants to get out of the camp alive and unharmed.
1.Before the play, when you thought about the concentration camps in the Holocaust, did you think about any other groups of people besides the Jews? If not how does having read this play make you feel?
ReplyDeleteI never thought of this sort of thing happening to gay people of this time period, though it doesn't surprise me. Hitler hated everything he was rumored to be (gay, a "secret" Jew, *not a rumor, because this is true* a man with dark hair and dark eyes). Is it possible his disgusting actions were out of fear of who he actually was?
After having read the play, my heart breaks for Max and Horst. I can't imagine lying about who I am, and knowing the stakes were isolation...or death.
I really enjoyed Sherman's tactic of keeping the setting ambiguous until the Nazi's come in, it keeps the play close to home. In reading period drama, I think the tendency is to assume we no longer face these issues, but Sherman's tactic eliminates the possibility of assuming that from the start.
Are gay men being carted off to concentration camps where they are murdered by the thousands? No, but how many gay men were silently murdered because they were different from the "norm?" These stories are important, and deserve to be considered, Sherman makes sure we pay attention through this piece.
My answer is to question number 2.
ReplyDeleteThere's an exchange in Neil Gaiman's series "The Sandman" between the characters of Dream and Delirium (who once was Delight) that's illustrative of this.
Delirium: "What's the name of the word for the precise moment when you realize that you've actually forgotten how it felt to make love to somebody you really liked a long time ago?"
Dream: "There isn't one."
Delirium: "Oh. I thought maybe there was."
There actually is a word like that. It's "mercy." Trust me.
-Neal
8. Max chooses to wear a gold star instead of a pink triangle. Do you think he wishes to erase his identity completely or just in this horrific setting?
ReplyDeleteA: I believe Max is a very smart man. After (and even before) Rudy is murdered Max realizes that he has no one to look out for other than himself. He shows his emotions the best he can when he manages to get Horst to move rocks with him. If I would have been in Max's position, I most certainly would have taken the golden star over the pink triangle to give myself a chance to survive.
I love the very end of the play after Horst is killed by the guards when Max puts on Horst's jacket with the pink triangle and runs to his death. It's so interesting because Max was a proud gay man, but when it came to his life he would rather be anything but gay in order to survive. Without Horst in the picture, there was no reason to be gay anymore because no one else would have known. He ran to his death wearing his true colors and showing them for all to see.