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Martin Sherman

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For another person, seeMartin Sherman (actor).
Martin Sherman
BornMartin Gerald Sherman
(1938-12-22)December 22, 1938(age 85)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,U.S.
OccupationPlaywright, screenwriter
EducationBoston University College of Fine Arts
BFA, Dramatic Arts (1960)
theActors Studio
Notable works
Notable awardsDramatists Guild
Hull-Warriner Award(1980)
Tony Award nominations:
•Bent(1980)
•The Boy from Oz(2003)
Laurence Olivier Award nomination:
•Rose(2000)

Martin Gerald Sherman(born December 22, 1938) is an American dramatist and screenwriter best known for his 20 stage plays which have been produced in over 60 countries. He rose to fame in 1979 with the production of his playBent,which explores thepersecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust.Bentwas a Tony nominee for Best Play in 1980 and won the Dramatists Guild's Hull-Warriner Award. It was adapted by Sherman for a major motion picture in 1997 and later by independent sources as a ballet in Brazil. Sherman is Jewish and openly gay,[1][2]and many of his works dramatize "outsiders," dealing with the discrimination and marginalization of minorities whether "gay, female, foreign, disabled, different in religion, class or color."[3]He has lived and worked in London since 1980.[4]

Life and career

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Early life

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Sherman was an only child, born inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, toRussian Jewishimmigrants,[5]Julia (née Shapiro) and Joseph T. Sherman, an attorney. Growing up inCamden, New Jersey,he was first introduced to the theater at age six, when he saw a pre-Broadway version ofGuys and Dolls(1950). Sherman's parents encouraged his passion. In an interview with LondonTimeswriterSheridan Morleyin 1983, Sherman recalled, "At 12 I joined the Mae Desmond Children's Players and went all around Pennsylvania being a tall dwarf inSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs."[6]As a young teen, Sherman despised school, but consoled himself by often taking the bus into Philadelphia to see plays. "I was the only kid in junior high school to have seenCamino Real,"he told interviewer Matt Wolf.[7]

In 1956 Sherman enrolled atBoston University College of Fine Arts,where he earned a BFA in dramatic arts. Upon graduating in 1960, he moved to New York City, where he studied at the Actors Studio under the legendary directorHarold Clurman.[3]Sherman credits this experience with shaping his technique as a playwright, explaining "all my plays are written for actors".[6]After spending several years in New York, Sherman was appointed playwright in residence atMills CollegeinOakland, California,where his rock musical,A Solitary Thing,premiered in 1963.[3]

Professional career

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Sherman returned to New York City in the mid-1960s where he wroteFat Tuesday(1966),Next Year in Jerusalem(1968), andThe Night Before Paris(1969).Things Went Badly in Westphalia—which takes its name from a line inVoltaire'sCandide— was next, and became Sherman's first published play when the dramatic rock musical was included inThe Best Short Plays of 1970.[8]In the 1970s, Sherman traveled to London where he worked with the founding members of theGay Sweatshop.[7][9]

After more than a decade of writing plays, Sherman found widespread fame in 1979 with his first blockbuster hit,Bent.First produced in London'sWest EndstarringIan McKellen,the play tells the story of Max, a gay man in Berlin during theWeimar Republic.After Max and his boyfriend are forced to flee the city following theNight of the Long Knives,the two live in hiding for two years before being captured by theGestapoand sent to aconcentration camp.[10]The play was considered extremely controversial. Despite the uproar,Benttransferred toBroadway,where it starredRichard Gereand became an instant hit, being nominated for aTony Award.Following the success of this production, Sherman moved to London.[11]

Despite his status as anexpatriate,Sherman continued to write successfully for both the British and the American stage. He had great success with his re-write of the book for the musicalThe Boy from Oz,based onPeter Allen's life and career, earning him a second Tony nomination. He has had a number of plays staged in the West End, includingMessiah(1982) withMaureen Lipman,A Madhouse In Goa(1989) withVanessa RedgraveandRupert Graves,When She Danced(1991) with Vanessa Redgrave,Oleg MenshikovandFrances de la TourandOnassis(2010) withRobert Lindsay.His playSome Sunny Daypremiered at theHampstead Theatrein 1996, withRupert EverettandCorin Redgrave.He found success in the genre ofone-woman playswithRose,which was nominated for aLaurence Olivier Awardfor Best New Play when it premiered in London in 1999. The show transferred to Broadway the following year, where it starredOlympia Dukakis.[8]His most recent play,Gently Down The Stream,premiered at the Public Theatre in New York in 2017, directed bySean Mathiasand starringHarvey Fierstein.

In 2003,Franco Zeffirellidirected Sherman's adaptation ofLuigi Pirandello'sRight You Are, if You Think So.The pair retitled the workAbsolutely! {perhaps}when it premiered at the Wyndham Theatre on London's West End where it was nominated that year for aLaurence Olivier Awardfor Best Revival. Following that critical acclaim, Sherman also premiered stage adaptations of the novelsA Passage to IndiabyE.M. ForsterandThe Roman Spring of Mrs. StonebyTennessee Williams.[11]He also found success as a screenwriter in the 1990s. Sherman adaptedBentfor the big screen in 1997 with the help of directorSean Mathiasand starring such actors asClive Owen,Ian McKellen,andMick Jagger.[12]

Other film titles includeClothes in the Wardrobein 1992 (released in the US asThe Summer House,1993), an adaptation ofAlice Thomas Ellis'snovel, withJeanne Moreau,Joan Plowright,Julie WaltersandLena Headey,Alive and Kicking(1996), directed byNancy Meckler,withJason Flemyng,Antony Sher,Dorothy TutinandBill Nighy,as well as a collaboration withFranco ZeffirellionCallas Forever(2002), a biographical film of opera starMaria Callas,withFanny ArdantandJeremy Irons.Sherman also wroteThe Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone(2003), a made-for-TV movie directed by Robert Allan Ackerman, withHelen Mirren,Anne BancroftandOlivier Martinez,andMrs Henderson Presents(2005), the tale of an eccentricWorld War Iwidow,Laura Henderson,who buys the oldWindmill Theatrein London and relaunches it as a venue for female all nude revues. The latter starredJudi Dench,Bob Hoskins,andChristopher Guest,[13]and was directed byStephen Frears.It earned Sherman a nomination for aBritish Academy of Film and Television Arts(BAFTA) Award for Best Original Screenplay.[14]

Works

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Theatre productions
Films
Television
Acting roles
  • Indian Summer(1996)
Publications
  • Bent,S. French, 1979
  • Messiah,Amber Lane, 1982
  • Cracks,S. French, 1986
  • When She Danced,Amber Lane, 1988; S. French, 1988
  • A Madhouse in Goa,Amber Lane, 1989; S. French, 1998
  • Some Sunny Day,Amber Lane, 1996
  • Rose,Methuen, 1999
  • "Things Went Badly in Westphalia," inThe Best Short Plays of 1970,1970
  • "Passing By," inGay Plays, Volume 1,1984

References

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  1. ^Nathan, John (October 14, 2010)."Interview: Martin Sherman, The Playwright, Best Known for Writing the Holocaust Drama" Bent ", Explains Why he is Fascinated by the Ruthless Shipping Tycoon".The Jewish Chronicle Online.RetrievedMay 5,2012.
  2. ^{{cite news|last=Helbing|first=Terry|title=Behind the Scenes at Broadway's Big Shocker—Bent


Kevin De Ornellas, "Martin Sherman". In Gabrielle H. Cody and Evert Sprinchorn, eds, The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, 2 volumes (Columbia University Press, 2007), volume 2, pp. 1235-36. ISBN: 9780231140324.

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