Who knew?
Bent at the Trafalgar Studios, 4 December 2006.
Who knew Alan Cumming had it in him? Who knew the Nightcrawler could be so profound? Not that I’m knocking the X-Men because I loved those movies and thought that the divine Alan stood out from the mutant crowd with his portrayal of the tortured outcast who looks like an animated gargoyle (hard to make that convincing but he succeeds). But truth be told, I’ve always thought he wasn’t quite living up to his potential what with all those sitcom cameos and slimy caricatures. He seemed a bit too over-fond of the celebrity chat show circuit also.
But in Martin Sherman's play Bent at the Trafalgar Studios, he transcends all his previous parts (no pun intended). It’s what aficionados call ‘a bravura performance’ I believe. As the frivolous nightclub inhabitant and maverick cocaine dealer in 30’s Berlin, his character Max at the outset is not particularly likable. Vain and idle in equal measure, all he wants from life is to stumble aimlessly from one casual night of abandonment to another. Unfortunately for him, the harsh realities of history are marshalling their forces and preparing to crash in on him with stark and unrelenting savagery.
The decadence and frivolity of Max’s Berlin lifestyle is pitched against the incoherent brutality of the Gestapo. Breaking in on Max and his partner and ravaging their life completely in one ferocious attack, they are presented as a homogeneous black beast; without individual wills or identities of their own (maybe a little too cartoonish for a play that revolves around questions of moral ambiguity). On the run, hiding in a remote forest, Max contacts a sympathetic Uncle who offers him a way out, “Why couldn’t you just get married and pay for a few boys on the side?” he asks him. His courage in rejecting this offer in favour of saving his partner’s life is nullified by the full force of the beast- the nightmare that unravels on the train to Dachau.
What will anyone do to survive? Who would we betray? Who would we kill? Nobody really knows until they’re put in that position (of absolute degradation). On the train Max meets another ‘pink triangle’, Horst, and later in the camp, he starts to become emotionally attached to him; even enjoying a forbidden sensual experience with him (illustrating the power of words and images over action). But by this time he’s “done a deal” and is masquerading as a ‘yellow star’ because "pink is the lowest". He thinks he’s found a way to survive, but this new relationship forces him to rethink his whole philosophy. Is better to die honestly or to live at all costs? When it comes to the crunch his decision is the former.
It’s fair to say that there’s not much laughs in this play- there were weeps and audible sobs around me towards the end of the second half. The horrors of the concentration camps is nothing new- most people have seen Schindler’s List and The Pianist/Life is Beautiful, but the story of what happened to the ‘pink triangles’ is a fairly untold story- I certainly didn’t know much about it. As an important piece of education about history and as a deep and moving emotional experience, the play works on both levels. The staging is minimal and pieces of furniture are left as debris on the side of the stage- echoing the chaos and desolation inflicted on a larger scale across Europe during World War II.
As I said to start off with, Alan Cumming is brilliant; playing both the sexual adventurer and the brutalised prisoner. Poor Rudy, played by Kevin Trainor, who just want’s to be left alone to water his plants, and thinks that things might have been different if "we had only tried to explain things properly to the Nazis", is also brilliant. In fact all the cast are excellent. It’s harrowing stuff, but edifying, and you have to make the effort to see something edifying now and then. GSG.
Who knew Alan Cumming had it in him? Who knew the Nightcrawler could be so profound? Not that I’m knocking the X-Men because I loved those movies and thought that the divine Alan stood out from the mutant crowd with his portrayal of the tortured outcast who looks like an animated gargoyle (hard to make that convincing but he succeeds). But truth be told, I’ve always thought he wasn’t quite living up to his potential what with all those sitcom cameos and slimy caricatures. He seemed a bit too over-fond of the celebrity chat show circuit also.
But in Martin Sherman's play Bent at the Trafalgar Studios, he transcends all his previous parts (no pun intended). It’s what aficionados call ‘a bravura performance’ I believe. As the frivolous nightclub inhabitant and maverick cocaine dealer in 30’s Berlin, his character Max at the outset is not particularly likable. Vain and idle in equal measure, all he wants from life is to stumble aimlessly from one casual night of abandonment to another. Unfortunately for him, the harsh realities of history are marshalling their forces and preparing to crash in on him with stark and unrelenting savagery.
The decadence and frivolity of Max’s Berlin lifestyle is pitched against the incoherent brutality of the Gestapo. Breaking in on Max and his partner and ravaging their life completely in one ferocious attack, they are presented as a homogeneous black beast; without individual wills or identities of their own (maybe a little too cartoonish for a play that revolves around questions of moral ambiguity). On the run, hiding in a remote forest, Max contacts a sympathetic Uncle who offers him a way out, “Why couldn’t you just get married and pay for a few boys on the side?” he asks him. His courage in rejecting this offer in favour of saving his partner’s life is nullified by the full force of the beast- the nightmare that unravels on the train to Dachau.
What will anyone do to survive? Who would we betray? Who would we kill? Nobody really knows until they’re put in that position (of absolute degradation). On the train Max meets another ‘pink triangle’, Horst, and later in the camp, he starts to become emotionally attached to him; even enjoying a forbidden sensual experience with him (illustrating the power of words and images over action). But by this time he’s “done a deal” and is masquerading as a ‘yellow star’ because "pink is the lowest". He thinks he’s found a way to survive, but this new relationship forces him to rethink his whole philosophy. Is better to die honestly or to live at all costs? When it comes to the crunch his decision is the former.
It’s fair to say that there’s not much laughs in this play- there were weeps and audible sobs around me towards the end of the second half. The horrors of the concentration camps is nothing new- most people have seen Schindler’s List and The Pianist/Life is Beautiful, but the story of what happened to the ‘pink triangles’ is a fairly untold story- I certainly didn’t know much about it. As an important piece of education about history and as a deep and moving emotional experience, the play works on both levels. The staging is minimal and pieces of furniture are left as debris on the side of the stage- echoing the chaos and desolation inflicted on a larger scale across Europe during World War II.
As I said to start off with, Alan Cumming is brilliant; playing both the sexual adventurer and the brutalised prisoner. Poor Rudy, played by Kevin Trainor, who just want’s to be left alone to water his plants, and thinks that things might have been different if "we had only tried to explain things properly to the Nazis", is also brilliant. In fact all the cast are excellent. It’s harrowing stuff, but edifying, and you have to make the effort to see something edifying now and then. GSG.
posted by gin soaked girl @ 7:30 PM
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