BENT: "I love you... What's wrong with that?"

April 16th, 2010 Performance: Theatre Out’s production of Martin Sherman's iconic play, Bent, is powerful, gripping and emotionally charged. Set in the 1930’s, Bent revolves around the persecution of gays in Nazi Germany. It tells of the horrific crimes to humanity and intolerance through the eyes of Max, a character struggling with love, self-discovery, and self-dignity. Describing the complex plot devices, themes of this play and importance of this piece of literature would take me hours (in fact I am still processing much of it), so if you have further interest I recommend The London Theatre Guide Review by Peter Brown, which actually provides quite a detailed history of the play (Wish I was there to see Alan Cumming! *sigh*). Let me just say that I try very hard to support Orange County small and community theatres, but on this particular occasion I do not need to defend this production against the typical faults associated with such theatres. Theatre Out has taken one of the most challenging pieces of theatre, both difficult to perform and difficult to watch, and bravely created a quality product. Now I realize that nothing is perfect, so let me also say that there were a couple believability issues in the first half of the performance. (Did I stress the difficulty of this piece?) However, in the second half the actors significantly picked up the stakes consistency of their performances. David Tran was endearing as Rudy and Greg Spradlin came in strong as Max. Yet, Ben Green was the true star of the night as Horst. In a tennis court seating arrangement, Ben Green commanded attention even with his back to the audience. His compelling performance quieted the anxiety ridden house, whose inner turmoil could be heard in the silence between the heartfelt revelations, self-discoveries, chaos and gunshots.


Performances April 9 - May 1, 2010 at The Empire Theatre 202 N. Broadway, Santa Ana CA. Fridays and Saturdays @ 8:00 pm; select Thursdays @ 8:00 pm; select Sundays @ 2:00 pm. Tickets are $12.00 - $18.00. For more information call (714) 826-8700 or visit www.theatreout.com.