BENT, a powerful exploration of love in Nazi Germany by Martin Sherman, will be performed in Swindon on Saturday night.

The hard-hitting play portrays the persecution of gay men by the Nazi state, and their incarceration in concentration camps where they were marked out with the sign of a pink triangle.

But TS Theatre’s Peter Hynds, who set up the company in 2011 and stars in the play, explained that despite the horror, the play explores love and tenderness, as main character Max meets and falls in love with Horst, a fellow inmate.

As the play opens, it is Berlin, in 1934, and Max and his lover Rudy are recovering from a night of debauchery with a SA trooper when two soldiers burst into the apartment and cut their guest’s throat. This shocking death on the Night of the Long Knives is the beginning of a nightmare odyssey through Nazi Germany.

TS Theatre has never shied away from challenging plays and dark topics – previous productions have included A Clockwork Orange and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. This latest offering sheds an uncompromising light on one of the darkest periods in human history.

The play is directed by Jane Dale, with three new company members joining the cast of eleven men.

Bent will be performed for one night only, from 7.30pm at the Platform. It is suitable for people aged 16 and over, due to strong language, sexual references and scenes of violence. Tickets are £10-£12, available from www.ticketsource.co.uk.