Table Of ContentEdward Bond Plays: 2
Lear, The Sea, Narrow Road to the Deep North,
Black Mass, Passion
Lear. ‘He has not cultivated a garden but created a landscape … it is one of
the most powerful plays to have emerged in years … Although its tragic scale
is unimaginable except in the theatre, it is not primarily a play for
“theatregoers”, but is meant for anyone concerned with our apparently hell-
bent course towards self-destruction.’ Observer
The Sea: “Bond describes The Sea as a comedy. But, being Bond, it is
comedy of a peculiar kind: it starts with a drowning at sea of Tempest-like
fury and throughout shows a poetic awareness of human desolation and
suffering … it blends wild farce with tragedy and ends with a sliver of hope
… what makes the play fascinating is Bond’s bleak poetry and social
comedy.’ Guardian
Narrow Road to the Deep North: ‘A funny, ironic and beautiful play. The
Japanese staging and background now seem wholly personal, used to express
a demurely witty but passionate antipathy to social institutions. In a series of
short, elegant scenelets, Brechtian in style but with a sly mock-Zen lightness
all their own, the play compares, and finally equates, the tyranny of brute
force and religious conscience’ Observer
Black Mass, written for performance at an anti-apartheid demonstration: ‘A
Georg Grosz picture come to life, it is ghastly, it is the only possible kind of
artistic imagery through which to speak of such evil.’ Listener
Passion, ‘A Play for CND’: ‘Bond’s theatrical cunning: the quick statement
of the theme, the very funny scenes with the Queen to hook the audience, the
shock when the monument is revealed to be a crucified pig, and then the
serious hammer blows … Mingles comedy and high anger with absolute
sureness.’ Guardian
Also included is the original Author’s Preface to Lear and an Introduction
written specially for this volume.
Edward Bond was born and educated in London. His plays include The
Pope’s Wedding (Royal Court Theatre, 1962), Saved (Royal Court, 1965),
Early Morning (Royal Court, 1968), Narrow Road to the Deep North
(Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, 1968; Royal Court, 1969), Black Mass
(Sharpeville Commemoration Evening, Lyceum Theatre, 1970), Passion
(CND Rally, Alexandra Palace, 1971), Lear (Royal Court, 1971), The Sea
(Royal Court, 1973), Bingo (Northcott, Exeter, 1973; Royal Court, 1974),
The Fool (Royal Court, 1975), The Bundle (RSC Warehouse, 1978), The
Woman (National Theatre, 1978), The Worlds (New Half Moon Theatre,
London, 1981), Restoration (Royal Court, 1981), Summer (National Theatre,
1982), Derek (RSC Youth Festival, The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon,
1982), The Cat (produced in Germany as The English Cat by the Stuttgart
Opera, 1983), Human Cannon (Quantum Theatre, Manchester, 1986), The
War Plays (Red Black and Ignorant, The Tin Can People and Great Peace),
which were staged as a trilogy by the RSC at the Barbican Pit in 1985,
Jackets (Leicester, Haymarket, 1989), September (Canterbury Cathedral,
1989), In the Company of Men (Paris, 1992; RSC at the Barbican Pit, 1996),
At the Inland Sea (toured by Big Brum Theatre-in-Education, 1995), Coffee
(Rational Theatre Company, Cardiff and London, 1996), Eleven Vests (toured
by Big Brum Theatre-in-Education, 1997) and his most recent play, The
Crime of the Twenty-first Century; also Olly’s Prison (BBC2 Television,
1993), Tuesday (BBC Schools TV, 1993). His Theatre Poems and Songs
were published in 1978 and Poems 1978–1985 in 1987.
by the same author
A-A-AMERICA! & STONE
AT THE INLAND SEA
THE CHILDREN & HAVE I NONE
COFFEE
THE CRIME OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
ELEVEN VESTS & TUESDAY
HUMAN CANNON
LEAR
OLLY’S PRISON
RESTORATION
SAVED
THE SEA
PLAYS: 1
(Saved, Early Morning, The Pope’s Wedding)
PLAYS: 3
(Bingo, The Fool, The Woman, Stone)
PLAYS: 4
(The Worlds with The Activists Papers, Restoration, Summer)
PLAYS: 5
(Human Cannon, The Bundle, Jackets, In the Company of Men)
PLAYS: 6
(The War Plays: Red Black and Ignorant, The Tin Can People,
Great Peace; Choruses from After the Assassinations)
PLAYS: 7
(The Crime of the Twenty-First Century, Olly’s Prison, Coffee)
PLAYS: 8
(Born, People, Chair, Existence, The Under Room)
Poetry
THEATRE POEMS AND SONGS
POEMS 1978–1985
Non-fiction
THE HIDDEN PLOT: NOTES ON THEATRE AND THE STATE
SELECTIONS FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF EDWARD BOND: VOL. I
1959–1980 SELECTIONS FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF EDWARD
BOND: VOL. II 1980–1995
EDWARD BOND
Plays: 2
Lear
The Sea
Narrow Road to the Deep North
Black Mass
Passion
with an introduction by the author
Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
This collection first published in Great Britain 1978 by Eyre Methuen Ltd
Reissued in this series in 1998 by Methuen Publishing Ltd
Lear and ‘Author’s Preface’ first published by Eyre Methuen Ltd
in 1972, revised 1978. © 1972, 1978 by Edward Bond
The Sea first published by Eyre Methuen Ltd in 1973,
revised 1978. © 1973, 1978 by Edward Bond
Narrow Road to the Deep North first published by Methuen & Co.
in 1968, revised 1978. © 1968, 1978 by Edward Bond
Black Mass first published by Methuen & Co. in 1971 in a volume with The
Pope’s
Wedding. Corrected for this edition, 1978. © 1970 by Edward Bond
Passion first published by Eyre Methuen Ltd in 1974 in a volume with
Bingo. Revised 1978. © 1974, l978 by Edward Bond
Introduction © 1974, 1978 by Edward Bond
This collection © 1978 by Edward Bond
Edward Bond has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval
system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting
on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication
can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application
for performance etc. should be made before rehearsals by professionals and
by amateurs to Casarotto Ramsay & Associates Ltd, Waverley House, 7–12
Noel Street, London W1F 8GQ Mail to: [email protected].
No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained.
No rights in incidental music or songs contained in the work are hereby
granted and performance rights for any performance/presentation whatsoever
must be obtained from the respective copyright owners.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
eISBN-13: 978-1-4081-7697-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Contents
Chronology
Introduction: The Rationed Theatre
LEAR
THE SEA
NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTH
BLACK MASS
PASSION
Edward Bond: A Chronology
First
PLAY performance
The Pope’s Wedding 9.12.1962
Saved 3.11.1965
A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
13.1.1966
(adaptation)
The Three Sisters (translation) 18.4.1967
Early Morning 31.3.1968
Narrow Road to the Deep North 24.6.1968
Black Mass (part o/Sharpeville
22.3.1970
Sequence)
Passion 11.4.1971
Lear 29.9.1971
The Sea 22.5.1973
Bingo: Scenes of money and death 14.11.1973
Spring Awakening (translation) 28.5.1974
The Fool: Scenes of bread and love 18.11.1975
Stone 8.6.1976
We Come to the River 12.7.1976
The White Devil (adaptation) 12.7.1976
Grandma Faust (part one of A-A-
25.10.1976
Arnerica!)
The Swing (part two of A-A-
22.11.1976
America!)
