  We consider the mapping $b_L\colon T \to \chi$ of the Fricke-Teichm\"uller
space $T$ into the $PSL_2 C$-character variety $\chi$ of the surface, obtained
by holonomy representations of bent hyperbolic surfaces along a fixed measured
lamination $L$. We prove that this mapping is an equivariant symplectic
real-analytic embedding and, for most of the measured laminations, proper.
Therefore $b_L$ is a reminiscent of an equivariant pleated surface $H^2 \to
H^3$, and moreover an analogue of a Poincar\'e holonomy variety ($sl_2 C$-oper)
in the Thurston parametrization of $CP^1$-structures. In addition, if the
measured lamination $L$ is a weighted multiloop, we construct a
complexification of $b_L$, in the product variety $\chi \times \chi$, by a new
type of bending deformation, so that the complexification retains similar
properties.
