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Nov. 2, 2007
Prepare to get re-Bent
Play depicts the Nazi's treatment of homosexuals.
KELLEY KORBIN
Bent is back in town and the buzz around the city is palpable. The play is indelibly etched into the minds of many Vancouverites who saw the 1981 performance of Martin Sherman's courageous and dark look at the Nazi persecution of homosexual men. That performance at the old Seymour Arts Club Theatre still retains the record of the longest running sell-out show to hit the city.
There is no doubt that, 26 years later, the themes of intolerance, hatred and censorship embodied in Bent are still relevant.
The story is set in 1930s Germany following the Night of Long Knives, when Hitler massacred most of his SA (Storm Troopers) and their leader Ernst Rohm. Rohm was a suspected homosexual and his death precipitated the Nazi persecution of gays – a precursor to the persecution arrest and eventual murder of six million Jews.
Bent follows the life of Max (played by Meta.for Theatre's co-artistic director Sean Cummings); a playboy in what had been, until 1934, a fairly liberal gay cabaret scene in Berlin. When that all changes in one frightening night, Max and his boyfriend Rudy unsuccessfully attempt to flee arrest by the Gestapo. Rudy is murdered on a transport train and Max winds up in Dachau concentration camp, where he conspires to become a "yellow star" rather than the pink triangle of the homosexuals. During his time in the camp, he becomes immersed in a beautiful covert love affair with Horst, a fellow prisoner.
Groundbreaking and controversial when it was first produced in 1978, Bent was one of the first media pieces to draw attention to the predicament of gays in the Holocaust and to pose the question of who had it worse: gays or Jews.
To this end, Meta.for Theatre co-artistic director Amanda Lockitch, who is directing the current production, told the Independent, "Not to diminish what happened to anyone else in the Holocaust, but particularly this story is not that well known, it's not taught a lot (as is the story of the Jehova's Witnesses and other smaller groups), not that they get overlooked but they sometimes can get overshadowed by the largest group that was targeted."
In the play, Max opts to wear a yellow star because he thinks he'll be better treated, perhaps because he suspects the other prisoners will respect him more as a Jew than as a homosexual. However, Lockitch said, "It can't be argued that it was better to be a Jew, especially closer to the Final Solution [the Nazi plan for the systematic genocide of Jews, which began in 1942]."
Lockitch said her company decided to produce Bent on the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass, a seminal event in the Holocaust) because of its message.
"This play is really about identity and self-acceptance and is an issue that everyone deals with. Issues of intolerance and persecution and hatred happen to everyone. All the issues in this play are timeless and relatively universal despite its material," she said, adding, "Queer bashings are still happening and it kind of begs the question, 'How far have we come?'... After the Holocaust there was a cry of 'Never again' but you look around the world today and you know Bosnia happened and Darfur is happening and you have to ask how we can keep doing this to each other."
Lockitch said Meta.for will "bookend" its 2007/2008 season opener, Bent, with a production of Kindertransport in March. She explained that these two plays both deal with the issues of self-identity and the Holocaust from very different perspectives and time periods.
Bent is playing at Performance Works on Granville Island until Nov. 17. It is appropriate for audiences aged 15 and up. For tickets, call Tickets Tonight at 604-231-7535.
Kelley Korbin is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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