Bond: A Study of his Plays by Malcolm Hay and Philip Roberts (review)

Abstract

Book Reviews MALCOLM HAY AND PHll.JP ROBERTS. Bond: A Study a/his Plays. London: Eyre Methuen 1980. pp. 319, illUSlIated. Edward Bond is quickly becoming one of the most prolific of England's contemporary playwrights. Twenty-one of his works, including translations and adaptations, have been perfonned, and he has recently completed three other pieces: Restoration, The Cat. and Summer. At present, he is working on a new play for the National Theatre. As can be expected, such productivity has led to an increasing number of critical studies of Bond's work (in both book-length studies and in books containing chapters devoted to Bond). The first book-length study was Richard Scharine's The Plays of Edward Bond (Lewisburg: Bucknell Univ. Press, (976), a book which covers Bond's work up through The Sea (1973). Simon Trussler's Edward Bond (Harlow: Longman for the British Council, 1976) is an excellent monograph on the plays up to Bingo (1973), and Tony Coult's The Plays ofEdwardBond(London: Eyre Methuen, 1977) is a short but competent study of Bond's major themes up through A~A~America! (1976). There are even two books in Gennan on Bond, afact which comes as no surprise in view afBond's popularity on the Continent: Peter Wolfensperger's Edward Bond: Dialektik des Weltbildes und dramatische Gestaltung (Bern: Francke, '976), and Peter Iden's Edward Bond (Ve!ber: Friedrich, 1973). ]n spite of their considerable strengths, however, none of these studies can equal the comprehensive, authoritative study that Hay and Roberts have provided in Bond: A Study of His Plays. The authors are already well~known to Bond admirers far two previous works: Edward Bond: A Companion to the Plays (London: Theatre Quarterly Publications, 1978), and Edward Bond: Theatre Poems and Songs (London: Eyre Methuen, 1978).The fonner is aplaygoer's guide consisting ofquotes by Bond, aselect bibliography. and an assortment of Bond's letters;and.the latter is acollection of pieces which Bond wrote as partofhis preparation for many oftheplays. These two works give the new critical study added authority, but the real source ofauthority is that the authors have had unrestricted access to Bond's papers. Hay and Roberts make good use of over seventy letters written by Bond to various actors, producers, and directors, and also use 558 Book Reviews over thirty letters that these people have exchanged among themselves. Hay and Roberts also draw amply upon nine taped interviews of Bond that they conducted, as well as a long list ofinterviews ofBond's associates. Just a glance at the bibliography reveals that these authors have done their research, a job so well done that the bibliography is the best for Bond studies currently available. What particularly distinguishes this study from others, as mentioned, is that Hay and Roberts had total access to Bond's notes, rough drafts, and unpublished plays (fifteen before The Pope's Wedding) and poems. Indeed, the two authors have had so much cooperation from Bond, especially in his comments on some of the difficult scenes in the plays, that one may say only half in jest that Bond is actually the third author of this critical study. The book offers abundant information on Bond, facts concerning his education, his first exposure to Brechtian theatre in 1956, his association with the Royal Court Theatre beginning in 1958, and his battles with the Lord Chamberlain over the censorship of Saved (1965) and Early Morning (1968). More important, however, are Hay and Roberts's observations on Bond's division of his work into three cycles, his themes, and his theories of dramatic method. The first cycle of plays runs from 1962 to 1973 and includes The Pope's Wedding, Saved, EarlyMorning, Narrow Roadto the DeepNorth, Lear, and The Sea. The second is a trilogy written between 1973 and 1977: Bingo, The Fool, and The Woman. The third is the current cycle, consisting of The Bundle, The Worlds, and some of the new plays just completed. Devoting separate chapters to most of the plays, Hay and Roberts examine in detail the concerns within each cycle, the difficulties of bringing most of these plays to actual perfonnance, the relationship of the minor...