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MY ANALYSIS OF DES: LOOKING AT EXAMPLES FROM BOND PLAYS The DE is also connected to what can be identified as the Centre of the play. Ihe recurring problem examined again and again in the play is the relationship of the individual and society; more specifically in this case the guestion of how to relate to the world outside the window, how to deal with ‘the city’ that keeps interfering with their lives between the four walls of their home. Inside and outside are juxtaposed throughout the play and different roles offer distinct paradigms of relating to the world outside. The story of the blinded child is an extreme reflection of this Centre: a mother trying to save her baby from the horrors of the world by blinding it. Liz explains it in the play saying “it’d grow up as if ‘er ‘ouse was its playpen. Be buried in its playpen!”.*”? The three characters express their way of dealing with ‘outside’ in different ways. Liz does not leave the flat, only under the influence of drugs if what Richard claims is true; “the city’s a stone sandwich", she says. Dan has to fetch her things from outside, including the drugs. He says he does not like going out in the streets anymore, because “now they don’t lead anywhere. Sun juss shows up the dirt. [...] Want me own life while I’m still young enough t’ do something with it".?" He tells Liz that he is “not fetchin no more".?§ Richard explains to Dan as he is stealing Liz’s clothes because “I ‘ave t’ — no work nowdays — get ‘ard up. ‘Ave t’ screw what yer can if yer wan’ t’ live”.4”’ There is a big change in how Dan’s character relates to the Centre in the DE at the end of the play. His sentence ‘for the kid’ together with the stage direction of him going to the window and staring down at the street is clearly opening a new relationship with the outside. The situation discussed here can be broken down into bigger units. There are big changes in the situation and they offer new opportunities for the Centre to be explored further. A radically new situation is created when Richard brings the mother’s clothes into the room, this not only changes the dynamics of the scene but also creates a new presence in the room. Dan is forced to confront the false memory of his mother in a new way as her presence is materialised through her clothes. Similarly, the tying down of Richard to the chaise-lounge changes the power-structure of the situation. It gives Dan much more power, but he also has to make big decisions and faces choices that force him to re-asses his position and relationship to the Centre of the play. The continually changing situation is employed by Bond*”® to make re-engagement with the Centre possible again and again. 3 Tbid., 184. #4 Ibid., 195. 125 Ibid., 193. 126 Ibid. #7 Ibid., 202. “8 Edward Bond: Edward Bond interviewed by Addm Bethlenfalvy at Lyric Theatre London, 9 September, 2011, Appendix F. + 107 +
