The Spotlight’s on… Edward Bond

 

Edward Bond (b. 1934) is considered one of Britain’s most important, innovative and controversial playwrights. His career spans nearly 50 years and has incited the widest range of reactions from his critics. “I write about violence as naturally as Jane Austen wrote about manners,” he once said.√Ǭ†

Bond was born into a working class family in London. As a child during World War II, his family was evacuated to the countryside where his exposure to the violence and terror of war shaped themes in his work. He left school at 15, working in factories and spending two years in the British Army.

Bond’s first play The Pope’s Wedding, was produced in 1962. Later, Bond was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK when his 1965 play Saved was banned by the Lord Chamberlain; the ban caused protests, and theatre censorship was soon abolished. Saved is now listed by The Royal National Theatre as one of the 100 best plays of the 20th Century.

Bond√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s other plays include Narrow Road to the Deep North (1968), Lear (1972), a reworking of Shakespeare’s play, and The War Plays (1985). His screenplays include Blow-Up for director Michelangelo Antonioni (1966) and Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) for director Franklin J. Schaffner.