Playwright and screenwriter Martin Sherman dramatizes outsiders—gay, female, foreign, disabled, different in religion, class or color—skipping over quicksand as they strive to survive. This book analyzes and evaluates Sherman’s work, while correcting previously published errors and establishing the flavor of the critical debate. Devoting more attention to such internationally acclaimed works as Bent and Mrs. Henderson Presents, it also considers less well known and even unpublished and unproduced scripts as well as his working relationships with the luminaries of stage and screen who have appeared in, directed, and produced his plays and screenplays.

Tish Dace spent 39 years in academia and 32 years as a New York theatre critic for publications on both sides of the Atlantic. She has served on the executive committee of the American Theatre Critics Association and the International Association of Theatre Critics and on the editorial board of The Best Plays. She holds the rank of Chancellor Professor Emeritus at UMass Dartmouth, which awarded her its Scholar of the Year Award in 1997.

Tish Dace
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 345
Bibliographic Info: 14 photos, appendices, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6662-7
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8813-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      ix

Preface      1

Prologue: First Performance of Bent      2

1. Crucibles and Satires (1938-1960)      3

2. Songs (1960-1962)      11

3. Fat Tuesday (1963-1966)      16

4. Crises (1966-1972)      22

5. California Dreamin’ (1973-1977)      33

6. Pink Triangles (1977-1979)      45

7. Bent on Broadway (1979-1980)      67

8. Rachel (1978-1984)      83

9. Isadora (1983-1988)      95

10. Vanessa Times Two (1986-1991)      104

11. Ian Again (1989-1991)      126

12. A Future in Film (1990-1993)      137

13. Magic (1994-1997)      146

14. Celluloid (1994-1997)      160

15. Dreams Fulfilled (1994-1997)      173

16. Judaica (1998-2000)      187

17. Italy (1999-2003)      199

18. India (2000-2002)      212

19. Oz (2001-2003)      221

20. Laura (2003-2005)      234

21. More Controversy (2005-2011)      247

Appendices

A: Bent on Stage      267

B: Messiah on Stage      270

C: When She Danced on Stage      273

D: A Madhouse in Goa on Stage      275

E: Rose on Stage      277

F: Films on Screen      281

G: Mrs. Henderson Presents on Screen      287

Selected Bibliography      295

Index      323

“An insightful and comprehensive account of Sherman’s career that offers detailed analysis of his practice and its criticism, interwoven with dozens of personal interviews with Sherman’s collaborators, as well as the playwright himself…invaluable for scholars and students of Sherman’s work”—Journal of Adaptation in Film and Performance.