This is the first major production of BENT, Martin Sherman's landmark play, in over seventeen years. This new production, starring Alan Cumming and directed by Daniel Kramer also features a new song, especially written for the show, by Chris Lowe of The Pet Shop Boys and Martin Sherman.

Bent follows a personal journey from the cabarets and clubs of a hedonistic city to the inhuman excesses of a totalitarian regime, as a gay man discovers the true meaning of love and self-acceptance against almost impossible odds. A transcendent love story, Bent has touched a universal nerve in the more than fifty countries that it has been seen in and is now a standard on UK drama, history and literature syllabuses.

Daniel Kramer is one of the most remarkable directors of his generation "A director with a touch of the magician about him." (Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph). Daniel is the newly appointed Creative Associate at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Associate Artistic Director at London's Gate Theatre. His previous credits include Woyzeck in 2004 and Hair in 2005, both at the Gate and for which he was nominated for the Evening Standard Outstanding Newcomer Award 2005. "Kramer, one of the most distinctive directors to have hit the stage in the last decade" Susannah Clapp (Observer 2005)

Martin Sherman's Olivier Award-nominated play received its world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in 1979 with a cast including Ian McKellen. In the same year there was a Tony award-winning Broadway production with Richard Gere. In 1989 the National Theatre revived the play, followed by a film version starring Mick Jagger, Jude Law, Ian McKellen and Clive Owen.

Olivier and Tony award-winning actor Alan Cumming is one of Britain's best loved and most successful actors. He has just finished his triumphant return to Broadway with Cyndi Lauper, in The Threepenny Opera, and he won the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theater World, New York Press awards for the Emcee in Cabaret, a role he famously created here in London in Sam Mendes award-winning production at the Donmar. Alan won the 1991 Olivier award for best actor.

Sonia Friedman Productions, Mark Rubinstein, Tulchin/Bartner Productions and Bob Boyett present Alan Cummings in “BENT”.