Edward Bond

Edward Bond (born July 18 1934) is a English playwright, theatre director, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of the play Saved (1965), the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK. His highly controversial work has met with extremes of reaction, from vilification to claims that he is the world's greatest living dramatist.

The 1970s and early 1980s

The subdued Edwardian-set comedy The Sea (1973) brought to an end what Bond then realised was a sequence of plays, beginning with The Pope's Wedding, in which he had asked pertinent questions about our society, its history, its class antagonisms and violence. He then produced two pieces exploring the place of the artist in society: Bingo (1973) which shows the retired Shakespeare as both exploitative landlord and suicide; and The Fool (1975) showing the 19th century poet John Clare driven insane by his patronising and violent class enemies. In 1976 Bingo won the Obie award as Best Off-Broadway play.

Related Topics:
The Sea - 19th century - John Clare - Insane - Obie

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Bond followed his sequence of "question plays" with what he called two "answer plays" — The Woman (1978), a massive meditation on the myth of the Trojan War; and The Bundle (1978), a new version of Narrow Road. By this time, Bond was also directing. He himself staged the premier of The Woman in the National Theatre's huge Olivier auditorium, opening up the stage like no director before him and creating an impressive, strikingly intelligent spectacle.

Related Topics:
The Woman - Myth - Trojan War

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Also from this period are: the short play Stone (1976), written for the gay rights theatre company Gay Sweatshop; and A-A-America (1976), a double-bill concerning racist violence in the USA.

Related Topics:
Gay rights - Gay Sweatshop - Racist - USA

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In 1976 he collaborated with the German composer Hans Werner Henze on the Opera We Come to the River, first produced at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. In 1982 the pair collaborated on another opera, The English Cat.

Related Topics:
Hans Werner Henze - Royal Opera House - Covent Garden

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His next plays were a return to contemporary subjects: The Worlds (1979) about industrial unrest and terrorism; Summer (1981), an Ibsen-like memory play; and Derek (1982), on class exploitation. Restoration (1981) is another study of Ruling Class culpability, this time set in the late 17th century.

Related Topics:
Ibsen - Restoration - 17th century

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