Bent's Cumming Comes Clean with Kramer at Q&A

Daniel Kramer on why he wanted to direct Bent

I grew up on a sheep farm in Ohio in a very fundamentalist Christian town. I saw the play when I was 16 and I remember, as a young gay man living in a closeted world, how it gave me hope that I would get out…. Politically, I have a lot of reservations about soldiers in Iraq and behaviour at Guantanamo, and I think this is also a play about how boys abuse their power. I just thought “it’s happening again, we’re doing it all again”. And it felt important to speak out about how minority groups are being segregated by the powers that be.

Alan Cumming on returning to the West End

Daniel Kramer on working with Cumming & New

Alan has really led the company from day one. He is the most generous joyous actor I’ve ever worked with. He’s just there and with every scene he brought it to the table. I could see where Alan wanted to go and sometimes I’d push him and sometimes pull him, but it always worked. Before working with Alan, I’d never had fun in rehearsals before…. I suppose there’s some sense of finding out which language we’re speaking in terms of how I communicate and how he communicates. In the first week of rehearsal, you always cling to your strong points. I come from a very physical background so I was saying things like “move your pinky, blink there”, and he was like “woah, back off a little bit there”. With Chris, because he’s a little bit more green, just out of drama school, he would do anything I suggested… The longer you’ve been in the business, the stronger you are about your ideas and your own interpretation of the role. Alan would always offer me something. If he didn’t agree exactly with what I was saying, he would offer me an alternative. Chris also has so much joy…. What they were going through on stage, they also did off stage – they didn’t fall in love and become lovers – but they are great friends off stage now, and it is beautiful.

Chris New on making his West End debut with Cumming in Bent

It was a bit of a baptism of fire. For about a week I couldn’t stop smiling. You know when you’re walking down the road and just smiling at nothing and people look at you really strangely? And then for a week I got really scared, and now it’s okay. I’m retiring now. I’m going to be a one-hit wonder.

- by Caroline Ansdell

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