Edward Bond, a playwright who shocked the stage world with ‘Saved,’ dies at 89
LONDON — Edward Bond, a playwright who shocked the British theater world together with his explosive 1965 drama “Saved,” has died, his agent stated Tuesday. He was 89.
Bond’s literary company, Casarotto Ramsay and Associates, stated that he died on Sunday. No explanation for loss of life was given.
Bond was born in London on July 18, 1934, and his childhood was overshadowed by World Conflict II, which noticed the town repeatedly bombed. He left faculty at 15, labored in factories and served two years of nationwide service within the military earlier than gaining success as a author.
His first play, “The Pope’s Wedding ceremony,” was staged in 1962 at London’s Royal Court docket Theatre, which shook up British drama with performs by Bond, John Osborne and different writers dubbed the “offended younger males.”
Three years later, the identical venue staged “Saved,” a play about alienated city youth that included a scene through which a gang of youngsters stone a child to loss of life in its pram. On the time, performs wanted approval from an official often known as the Lord Chamberlain, and the Royal Court docket was prosecuted for staging “Saved” with out a license.
Amongst its defenders was actor-director Laurence Olivier, who wrote to The Observer newspaper: “’Saved’ shouldn’t be a play for youngsters however it’s for grown-ups, and the grown-ups of this nation ought to have the braveness to take a look at it.”
The theater misplaced the case, and each “Saved” and Bond’s subsequent play, “Early Morning,” a scabrous satire on British royalty, had been banned in Britain.
The controversy sparked a authorized evaluate that, in 1968, ended stage censorship in Britain. “Saved” is now considered a contemporary traditional and has been produced all over the world.
A number of of Bond’s performs drew inspiration from William Shakespeare, together with “The Sea,” which evokes “The Tempest,” and “Lear,” a remodeling of “King Lear.” Shakespeare was the central character in “Bingo,” produced in 1974 with John Gielgud because the Bard within the final years of his life.
An exacting character who typically fell out with administrators, Bond wrote greater than 50 performs, together with 18th-century class comedy “Restoration” and trilogy “The Conflict Performs.” He influenced youthful playwrights, notably the late Sarah Kane, whose 1995 play “Blasted” shocked audiences as a lot as “Saved” had 30 years earlier.
His closing play to be staged, in 2016, was “Dea,” a forceful adaptation of the Greek tragedy “Medea.”
Bond additionally labored on film screenplays, together with “Blow-Up”— which earned him an Academy Award nomination — “Laughter within the Darkish” and “Walkabout.”
