CHAPTER Two: WHAT Is A DRAMA EVENT
will be discussed further on, there is the analysis of other theoreticians and
practitioners of how DEs work, and there are examples of DEs in plays and in
performance that I will examine. Before doing this, I will examine if there are
other theories that some central elements of Bond’s theory can be connected
to, so that we can understand them better.
FURTHER EXAMINATION OF THE BONDIAN APPROACH
There are a number of studies about the work of Edward Bond, starting from
the late ‘70s Simon Tussler*“* and Richard Scharine*” present Bond to the
public, while Tony Coult?° offers an in-depth analysis of his plays. The list
continues till today, the latest — but probably not last — critical study being
Peter Billingham’s, published in 2014.?! Various periods and aspects of
Bond’s work are discussed in many important publications??? and numerous
articles and essays can be found discussing his plays and theories in a variety
of journals and collections. A full survey of these writings would probably
shed as much light on the period they were written in as the works they were
written about, but it might not help focus on the central guestions of this
research. I have selected aspects of Bond’s theory that connect powerfully
with my central questions and will concentrate on literature linked to these
subjects. Furthermore, a full survey of important studies on Bond has been
completed by Kostas Amoiropoulos”* offering a thorough examination of
various aspects of the dramatist’s theory and also a historic perspective of the
analysis of his work, I will be relying on the findings of this research greatly.
On the other hand, David Davis offers a concise and accessible introduction
to Bond’s theory in his Commentary*™ in the student edition of Saved.
To be able to discuss different analyses of Bond’s DE it will be useful to look
at general theoretical questions first, as the theory will offer a more grounded
insight into the specific examples. I examine three main subjects here:
48 Simon Trussler: Edward Bond, Harlow, Longman House, 1976.
Richard Scharine: The plays of Edward Bond, Lewisburg, Bucknell University Press, 2007.
250 Tony Coult: The Plays of Edward Bond: A Study, London, Eyre Methuen, 1977.
51 Peter Billingham: Edward Bond: A Critical Study, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Malcolm Hay - Philip Roberts: Bond: A Study of His Plays, London, Eyre Methuen, 1980;
David L. Hirst: Edward Bond, London, Macmillan 1985; Lou Lappin: The Art and Politics
of Edward Bond, New York, Peter Lang, 1987; Jenny S. Spencer: Dramatic Strategies in
the plays of Edward Bond, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992; Michael Mangan:
Edward Bond, Plymouth, Northcote House Publishers, 1998; Davis: Imagining the Real.
Amoiropoulos: Balancing Gaps.
254 David Davis: Commentary, in Edward Bond: Saved (Student Editions), London, Methuen
Drama, 2009, xvii—xxxiv.