BENT

Venue: Smock Alley Theatre

Dates: Monday, Aug 11, Sat Aug 23

Times: 8pm every night, including Sunday, Aug 17

Tickets: €17.50 Adults, €12.50 Concession

Struts&Frets bold production of Martin Sherman's 'BENT' returns to Smock Alley Theatre Studio. Following a triumphant run in May, acclaimed director Kristian Marken returns with his international cast for a limited run of this award-winning play from August 11th to 23rd.

Written in 1979 and starring Ian McKellen (London) and Richard Gere (New York) in the first UK and US productions, 'BENT' took the theatre world by storm. The play examines the often over-looked 'Gay Holocaust', whereby the Nazi concentration camps claimed the lives of tens of thousands of homosexual men, along with Gypsies, convicts, Jehovah's Witnesses, mentally handicapped, intellectuals, Free Masons, prostitutes, political dissidents, and six million Jews.

The play chronicles the character of Max Berber, a hedonistic gay man living in Berlin in the decadent 1930's. At the time, Germany, and particularly Berlin, had perhaps the most relaxed and permissive views towards homosexuality in the world; that is until 'The Night of the Long Knives' in 1936, when Hitler's elite S.S. , along with the Gestapo, effectively assasinated the leadership of the S.A., in particular, the openly gay Ernst Rohm, and sent the entire German gay community on the run or into hiding. Max, along with his lover Rudy, attempt to flee to Holland, but are captured by the S.S. and transported to Dachau.

'BENT' is a brilliant meditation on survival, fear, cruelty, identity, and love.

A talented cast, under the expert hand of Kristian Marken, bring this world of terror, pathos and passion to vivid clarity night after night, culminating with consistant ovations and acclamation.

Performed in the historic Smock Alley Theatre, against the walls of the oldest surviving theatre building in Western Europe, 'BENT' resounds with theatrical, political, and social history. This play is not to be missed.

Performed daily at 8pm, from August 11-23 including Sunday 17th.

For information and bookings contact:

Struts&Frets 086 078 5035 / emma.weafer@gmail.com