Keble O’Reilly

Tuesday 2nd – Saturday 6th March; 7.30pm & 2.30pm on Saturday

“Conclusively, I implore anyone and everyone to view this play as it will without a doubt surpass every expectation on every level.” Catherine Owen ★★★★★

“My objections to it are two-fold in nature: firstly, I think that it is a poorly written piece; and, secondly, I find that it is now politically naff. However, James Corrigan’s revival is admirable in that it manages to cover for some of these flaws.” Rory Fazan ★★★★★

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Bent ★★★★★

Review by Catherine Owen

As the performance of ‘Bent’ concluded last night and the applause gradually ceased a reverent silence overcame the Keble O’Reilly theatre as the audience filled out, each member stunned by what had been displayed before them.

‘Bent’, written by Martin Sherman in 1979, explores the persecution of homosexuals in 1930s Germany, by focusing on the fate of the central character (named Max), who attempts to escape Berlin but fails and is consequently placed in Dachau concentration camp. It was a daring choice of script by the director James Corrigan as it contains a variety of difficult themes and moments, which if dealt with poorly would make the whole production appear altogether mediocre. Fortunately this was avoided through careful consideration of the script by both the cast and crew and therefore in fact brilliantly demonstrated the actors’ considerable skills. One particularly impressive feature of the script was the human portrayal of the central character, riddled with faults, which saved the role from becoming only a device to extract sympathy from the audience. The pace of the script was varied as there was a contrasting juxtaposition of alarming moments with comic ones; the use of humorous lines throughout the script was especially welcomed by the audience as it prevented the script from being saturated with depression. The script’s incorporation of music was also effective as the lyrics appropriately reflected the themes of the place and heightened the sadness sensitively. Tender moments were extremely well expressed and rendered a significant proportion of the audience sobbing silently.

The quality of the acting was unprecedented in student drama that I have witnessed. Chris Greenwood, playing Max, although failing to annunciate in the initial scenes and therefore was slightly difficult to understand, improved significantly throughout the performance and provided stunning moments of acting especially end of both acts. However the performance that overwhelmed the production was that of Joe Eyre as Horst, who gave a flawless performance every minute that he graced the stage. Eyre managed to maintain spontaneity in each line and was beyond phenomenal in his concluding scene as he was able to manipulate the tension in the scene and express distress simultaneously. Assisting the lead roles was the exceptional quality of the supporting actors who clearly paid serious attention to their parts, regardless of the size. Particularly impressive was Jacob Lloyd as Greta the drag queen, who gave a very confident performance, and Brian McMahon who provided a convincing performance as the discreet ‘fluff’, Uncle Freddie. Matt Gaven as Rudy was solid and assured though initially lines were rushed and occasionally seemed slightly artificial. Jared Fortune was also wonderful at providing comic moments and casting lascivious looks across the stage though was too quiet so occasional lines of the dialogue was missed. Rory Smith, Kate Lewin and Ed Baranski managed to portray chilling cruelty as the Nazi gaurds. Overall the exceptional skill of the entire cast contributed to the stunning quality of the play.

A special mention must be made to the design team as the considerable amounts of grey used managed to convey the oppressive nature of the concentration camp; this was further emphasised by the netting and the guards placed at the doors of the theatre as the audience entered for the final act. Minimal props were often used in scenes though effectively suggested a whole scenario. However the touch that particularly proved the flare of the design team was the use of the barbed wire across the stage in the second act, which simply but successfully emphasised the theme of division that ran throughout the play.

Conclusively, I implore anyone and everyone to view this play as it will without a doubt surpass every expectation on every level.

Bent ★★★★★

Review by Rory Fazan

This is one slick show. Acorn Productions have assembled a very talented team and the resulting production is polished, sometimes innovative and very well designed. Overlooking minor issues, it is only Martin Sherman’s play that lets them down. My objections to it are two-fold in nature: firstly, I think that it is a poorly written piece; and, secondly, I find that it is now politically naff. However, James Corrigan’s revival is admirable in that it manages to cover for some of these flaws.

Most resourceful and surprising of all is Joe Eyre’s performance as Horst. On the page (and in Sean Mathias’ 1997 film), Horst is a sap who seems to talk utter nonsense; but Eyre has found a way to deliver the part with impressive conviction. A central theme of the play is the argument that takes place in Dachau between Horst and the protagonist Max (here played by Chris Greenwood) as to whether Max should wear the pink triangle – indicative of his being homosexual – or the Jewish yellow star. Sherman operates upon the assumption that life in the camps was comparatively worse for homosexual prisoners than it was for Jewish prisoners (indeed you might find his frequent insistences on this point more than a little distasteful). The wheeling-and-dealing Max chooses to wear the yellow star with which, in Sherman’s Dachau, he stands a better chance of surviving. Horst, meanwhile, wears his pink triangle with pride and tries to convince Max to do the same. Despite Sherman’s prodding his audience to side with Horst on this (and Max ultimately does wear the pink triangle), writing this now, I think the contrary view is much more compelling. Getting by in and (potentially) getting out of the camp strikes me as a far more eloquent retort to Nazi injustices than a reckless rendition of ‘I Am What I Am’. For Sherman, writing in 1979, this debate clearly cuts pretty deep. Although my own views on sexual politics are largely settled, Eyre made me think twice last night.

Greenwood is less convincing (though still very good) as Max. With his innocent smile and thick Yorkshire dialect, I struggled to see him as a cosmopolitan beast who gets wrecked nightly and beds men who look like Jared Fortune (i.e. “fitties”). In some of the later scenes, however, his performance was really quite affecting.

One problem that ‘Bent’ presents to any director is its habit of sometimes lapsing into an absurdist style. A few examples of this spring to mind: the timing of the storm troopers’ entrance in the first scene, the robotic camp guards and the sparse, Beckett-like conception of Dachau. I struggle to find a positive motivation for Sherman’s decision to adopt this manner at points throughout the play. Ultimately, I think it is just the natural recourse of a writer who has discovered that he is writing the unstageable. Corrigan tries to mask this oddity by directing his cast to ‘act natural’. This jarred with the high camp of the first part of the play. With the exception of Matt Gavan’s performance (Gavan wastes none of his lines), there seemed to be a conflict between the theatrical and the natural in this section which prevented it from bursting to life.

A dated, trashy play with a serious subject and, indeed, the first commercially successful play to depict unarguably gay men in a positive light, ‘Bent’ fired the starting gun on a gay theatrical revolution that lasted throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. There’s so much more to say about ‘Bent’ and its politics than has been or can be said here and this is why – with Queer History Month drawing to a close – you should go and see this production.