Martin Sherman's Bent to Return to the West End; Cumming Expected to Star

Martin Sherman's Bent is returning to the West End. The play will begin performances at the Trafalgar Studios on September 22 and officially open on October 5.

Bent, which centers on a gay love affair being conducted in a Nazi concentration camp, will be directed by Daniel Kramer who earlier this year was nominated for the Evening Standard's Outstanding Newcomer Award, for his productions of Hair and Woyzeck at the Gate Theatre, where he is associate artistic director. He has also worked with the RSC, and was associate director to Trevor Nunn on the West End production of The Woman in White.

Though casting is not yet confirmed, it is expected that Alan Cumming will return to the London stage for the first time since he starred as the Emcee in the Donmar Warehouse production of Cabaret in 1993. The Scottish-born actor recently completed a run as the star of The Threepenny Opera on Broadway.

The original production of Bent received its world premiere at the Royal Court in May 1979, starring Ian McKellen and Tom Bell in a staging that subsequently transferred to the West End's Criterion Theatre. It was revived in a new production at the National's Lyttelton Theatre in 1990 in a staging that transferred to the Garrick Theatre. The play received its Broadway premiere in 1979 in a production that starred Richard Gere and David Dukes.