Edward Bond

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Edward Bond. Photo by Chris Ridley/Radio Times, via Getty Images.

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Edward Bond

  March 12, 2024

NY Times: Edward Bond, 89, Playwright Who Clashed With Royal Censors, Dies

Ah, Edward Bond. Known if for nothing else for the scene from his 1965 play SAVED: it contains a “scene in which some hooligans stone to death a baby in a pram.” The controversy over the play ultimately made it so that the Lord Chamberlain, who had had censorship powers over plays since 1737, was no longer be able to wield that power.

In 1976 or so, I read Bond’s NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTH and at the time thought it was one of the best plays I had ever come across.

He was always known for his very active left-wing politics, which I thought was great as it is extremely rare in the US for a playwright to be as active outside the theater as Edward Bond was. May he rest in peace.

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