‘Bent’ Gives History an Unsettling Twist

As Nazi persecution brutally consigns German homosexuals to subhuman status, the collision of heartbreaking poignancy with heavy-handed shock cliches makes “Bent” at Pasadena’s Knightsbridge Theatre an alternately affecting and frustrating experience.

Never in doubt, however, is the seriousness of purpose in Martin Sherman’s historical tragedy or in Hugh Harrison’s earnest staging. Topping an uneven cast are compelling performances from Tom Kevin Wagner as a kind of gay Faustian figure who deals with the Nazis for preferential treatment and from Joseph Stachura as the haunted lover he meets in captivity.

As they labor at their Sisyphean “job” (moving a pile of rocks from one side of the stage to the other ), the couple’s growing affection makes the better part of the show.

More problematic is the play’s implication that gays were singled out for the Nazis’ worst oppression. No one got off easy at Dachau, and making an issue of who sat at the lowest rung is splitting impossibly fine hairs.

* “Bent,” Knightsbridge Theatre, 35 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m. Ends May 26. $15. (818) 440-0821. Running time: 2 hours.