Edward Bond was a playwright and theater director whose often socially conscious work included “Saved,” “Narrow Road to the Deep North,” “Lear,” and “The Sea.”
- Died: March 3, 2024 (Who else died on March 3?)
- Details of death: Died in Great Wilbraham, England, at the age of 89.
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Edward Bond’s legacy
Born to a poor working-class family and exposed to the bombings of London at a young age, Bond left school in his teens and grew up with a sense of loss and isolation that informed his work. After a brief stint in the British Army, Bond moved to London and began writing. In 1958, he was invited to join a writers’ group at the Royal Court Theater where he quickly made waves.
Bond’s 1965 play, “Saved,” showcased the stories he was passionate about: working class young people struggling against an economic system that seemed designed to keep them working class, and the life-changing choices they make as a result. The show won acclaim, but also received backlash and censorship thanks to its brutal violence. His follow-up, “Early Morning” was just as controversial, featuring explicit content of the kind rarely seen in British theaters. Both were performed despite legal bans.
Over the ensuing decades, Bond continued to pen confrontational and political stories that were often controversial due to their themes and graphic nature. His initial success was followed by such notable works as “Narrow Road to the Deep North,” “Lear,” “The Sea,” and his “War Plays” trilogy of the 1980s. In the 1990s and 2000s, he focused on dystopian themes, painting bleak portraits of the 21st century. Several of his plays, including “Saved,” saw modernized revivals during this time. His final work was 2016’s “Dea,” a reworking of the Greek tragedy “Medea.”
Notable quote
“You have to see how people deal with crisis. But in the end you cannot despair. If you’re going to despair, stop writing. If my plays are staged and acted in the way in which they are written, what comes across is a colossal affirmation of life”—from a January 2008 interview for the Guardian
Tributes to Edward Bond
Full obituary: BBC
