British Playwright Edward Bond Dies at 89

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that British playwright Edward Bond has died at age 89.

Bond has written over 50 plays, including, notably Saved (1965), which helped to abolish theatre censorship in the UK.

At the time of Saved, the Theatres Act 1843 was still being enforced, which required scripts to be submitted for approval by the Lord Chamberlain's Office. The Lord Chamberlain wanted to censor the play, but Bond refused to alter it, a move that was backed by Gaskill and the Royal Court.

In the years following, Bond and the Royal Court continued to defy the censor, including with the 1967 work, Early Morning. In 1969, when the Royal Court was finally able to perform Bond's work legally, it put on and toured the three plays in Europe, winning the Belgrade International Theatre Festival prize.

Bond's other works include Narrow Road to the Deep North (1968), Lear (1971), The Sea (1973), The Fool (1975), Restoration (1981), and the War trilogy (1985).

In 1995, Bond began working with Big Brum, a Theatre in Education Company based in Birmingham. He became an Associate Artist for this charity and wrote several plays to be performed in schools and theatres. 

Bond has also written non-dramatic works, including a variety of short stories and poetry in the 1970s and 1980s and has recent poetry published on his website. In the mid-late 1960s he worked on the screen plays for films ‘Blow Up’, ‘Michael Kolhaas’, ‘Laughter in the Dark’, ‘Walkabout’ and ‘Nicholas and Alexandra’. He also translated the Frank Wedekind’s play, ‘Spring Awakening' from German and wrote an introduction for it in 1974.