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A Political Language for the Theatre: Edward Bond's RSC Workshops, 1992

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

Ian Stuart
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Abstract

Disillusioned by what he sees as the inadequate state of the British theatre, Edward Bond has refused to have some of his more recent plays produced in this country, although they have been seen in productions on the Continent. This year's Avignon Festival will thus be focusing on his work, and later in 1994 the Berliner Ensemble will be staging Olly's Prison. In 1992, however, Bond worked – for the first time since the late 1980s – with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company, resuming in workshop conditions his attempt to develop a distinctive acting style for his work. Commenting on the programme of workshops, and through subsequent interviews with Bond and some of the actors involved, Ian Stuart, who teaches in the School of Theatre at the University of Southern California, attempts to draw conclusions about Bond's current theatre methodology.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Theatre Quarterly , Volume 10 , Issue 39 , August 1994 , pp. 207 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

Notes and References

1. The RSC actors who took part in the workshops were Ron Cook, Bella Enahoro, John McAndrew, Trevor Martin, Susan-Jane Tanner, Sophie Thompson, Jack Waters, and Emily Watson.

2. Edward Bond and Cicely Berry, memo to Adrian Noble, 22 January 1992.

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6. Bond refers to the entrance of the knight in ‘sumptuous armour’ in Act V, Scene vi.

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8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid. The room Bond and his actors used at The Other Place contained various rehearsal props.

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12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.

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23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

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38. Ibid., p. 6.

39. Ibid.

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