Martin
Sherman is a well known playwright and screenwriter best known for his works Bent and The Boy from Oz; an exciting novel made into a play and movie
nominated for the Olivier Award, Britain’s version of the Tony Award. The play Bent
was Sherman’s way of exploring the times of the Holocaust working openly with Nazis,
Jews, and more importantly the persecution of homosexuals. Bent was a nominee in 1979 for a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony for Best
Play in 1980. Sherman along with nominations and high reviews won the Dramatist
Guild’s Hull-Warriner Award. Later Bent
became and major motion picture in 1997 and produced in 35 countries.
Martin
Sherman was born in American (December 22, 1938) raised in Jewish household. His
first awareness in the theatre came at an early age of six when he saw the play
Guys and Dolls staring Alfred Lunt
and Lynn Fontanne around the 1950s. His interest continued throughout his life
and continued though college. He received a BFA in Dramatic Arts from Boston
University College of Fine Arts in 1960. From graduation he went to New York
and joined Actors Studio to continue studying the world of acting. There he begin
creating his own works which dramatize “stereotypical white male heterosexuals”
dealing with the discrimination of minorities whether gay, female, foreign,
disabled, or of different religion. Sherman being an openly gay Jew found
widespread fame with his outstanding dramatizations.
Bent was first produced in London 1979
starring Ian McKellen as Max, a young gay man in Berlin. Max struggles through
his life living off of scum with his boyfriend, Rudy, a silent dancer. Both are
forced out of Berlin in order to survive in hiding during the Weimar Republic.
After 2 years of living out in tents the boys are discovered and sent off to
concentration camps.
The
Weimar Republican happened after World War I where the republics emerged from
the German Revolution where they gathered in the city of Weimar, a city outside
of Berlin, where the constitutional assembly took place. Weimar Republic then
created a new Nazi government coming to power run by Adolf Hitler in 1933. The
creation of concentration camps and discrimination happened during this period,
where Bent is being placed in time.
In
London the play was considered very controversial and violent. It also gathered
reviews that degraded that the homosexuals received worse treatment than the
Jews during the Holocaust. The play Bent
was then transferred to Broadway where it received excellent reviews and became
a hit, then taking it up to a Tony nomination and higher to a Pulitzer Prize
for Drama.
1) In
scene 1 why is Wolf being arrested? And why is his death important as an
opening scene?
2) What’s
the significance of Greta’s song and does it give foreshadowing to a greater
event?
3) When
Max meets with Freddie discreetly why does Max deny love yet begs for 2
tickets?
4) What
impact did you feel when the officers made Max beat Rudy?
5) Play
off question #4 - Does this affect your position if you were in a situation
where it was a choice between death or saving a life to die for?
6) How
does the theme of discrimination and sexuality intermingle within the script?
7) Was
Max’s quick thinking to make a deal the best decision if it meant his life?
8) What
theme is portrayed through Max and Horst’s relationship? And how does it relate
throughout the entire play?
9) Horst
speaks out against Max (page 66) calling him a Gestapo (meaning secret police
of Nazis). What inference can you take from his truth?
10) Max
takes on the pink triangle, explain how his acceptance of nature and defiance against
the Nazis ends the play?
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