Martin Sherman's new play, Gently Down the Stream, stars Harvey Fierstein as a man with a much younger boyfriend.
By Brandon Voss
Nearly four decades after writing Bent, his groundbreaking Pulitzer Prize-nominated drama about the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany, Tony nominee Martin Sherman returns to the New York stage with Gently Down the Stream, an unexpected love story that also honors gay history.
Directed by Sean Mathias, who helmed Bent’s 1997 film adaptation, Gently Down the Stream is now making its world premiere off-Broadway at the Public Theater. The play tracks the evolving relationship between pianist Beau (Tony winner Harvey Fierstein) and Rufus (Tony winner Gabriel Ebert), a lawyer more than 30 years his junior. Peering through that age gap, Sherman examines the triumphs and tragedies of the gay community.
At 78, the playwright explains why he’s eager to share this story with younger gay generations. Put not-so-gently, all our rights may depend on it.
NewNowNext: What was the impetus for Gently Down the Stream?
Martin Sherman: I’ve been working on it for almost 20 years. In the late ’90s I wrote a solo play called Rose, which was about one woman’s life but also about the history of Judaism in the 20th century. I wanted to do something similar about gay life, but I didn’t know how. Every so often I’d go back to it, hit a stone wall, and put it away again. There’s always been a file on my computer called “Gently Down the Stream.”
When did it finally click?
When I decided to write about a relationship with a large age gap, I realized I had a way of writing the play. That’s what broke it open for me, because then I had a way to explore different time periods.
Beau is more than 30 years older than Rufus. How does that age difference inform their relationship?
They both have an enormous amount to learn from each other, which can be the value of an intergenerational relationship.
What can younger gay men teach their gay elders?
Well, it’s a different world. There are new perspectives, new ways of thinking. When you’re living with someone younger who lives in the present, you can’t live in the past. Living in the past is ridiculous. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t remember and honor it.
Why is it so important for young gay men to know the history of their predecessors?
It wasn’t easy to get to where we are, to say the least. Also, it could all be taken away from us very, very quickly and easily. You can’t defend where we are unless you understand how we got here.
The references in Gently Down the Stream are undoubtedly introducing some audience members to things like the Upstairs Lounge fire or 1920s drag performer Jean Malin, Similarly, Bent taught many people about the persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust. As a playwright, do you enjoy taking on the role of teacher?
I’ve never thought of it that way, but I suppose that does happen. I’m able to do that because I’ve been taught, and it’s important for that to continue on from generation to generation. I refer in the play to the Moroccan storytellers. When I was in Morocco, I was very moved to see these old men, sitting in the square and telling stories about the past, with all these young people sitting around them and listening.
Like Beau, you’re a creative American expat living in London. You’re also roughly Beau’s age. Is the play autobiographical?
If you write a good play, it’s going to be autobiographical to some degree. You can’t help it.
Beau shares many stories about his lost lovers and friends. Do those bittersweet memories honor real people from your life?
There are a lot of people from my life in the play, though very much distilled. Of course, all those stories channel the ghosts of real people.
As with Bent, Gently Down the Stream has both gay and straight actors playing gay characters. How do you respond to the argument that LGBT roles should be played by LGBT actors?
Does that mean only straight actors can play the straight roles? That would keep every gay actor in the closet. You must have an actor who’s comfortable in his own sexuality, whatever that is, and then they can play anything.
Bent had a major L.A. staging in 2015. Doesn’t it seem overdue for a Broadway revival?
I’d love that. When you write a play like Bent, part of you selfishly wants it to live on and on. But there’s another part that hopes the play will lose its meaning and go out of fashion. Unfortunately, the current political climate makes it more relevant than ever.
NewNowNext, March 2017.
Photo: Gently Down the Stream/Joan Marcus