POSTER FOR THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OF MARTIN SHERMAN'S BENT

Martin Sherman's groundbreaking play Bent was first presented at the Royal Court Theatre in London in spring of 1979. The production was directed by Robert Chetwyn and starred Ian McKellen and Tom Bell. The play transferred to the West End and then opened on Broadway the following year with Richard Gere and David Dukes in the lead roles.

The play is set in Berlin in 1934, following the Night of the Long Knives, and focuses on the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany. Bent is justly celebrated for drawing attention to a heretofore little-known and little-discussed aspect of the deadly repression of the Third Reich.