Saved

Described by its author as 'almost irresponsibly optimistic',Savedis a play set in London in the sixties. Its subject is the cultural poverty and frustration of a generation of young people on the dole and living on council estates. The play was first staged privately in November 1965 at the Royal Court Theatre before members of the English Stage Society in a time when plays were still censored.With its scenes of violence, including the stoning of a baby,Savedbecame a notorious play and a cause c_l+bre . In a letter to The Observer , Sir Laurence Olivier wrote: 'Savedis not a play for children but it is for grown-ups, and the grown-ups of this country should have the courage to look at it.'This Student Edition provides an expert commentary on the play and the author's other writing. Ideal for students and teachers of drama and literature, the commentary covers the themes, style, language, characters and context of the play and includes a full set of study aids.

Edward Bond is one of the great British playwrights of the twentieth/twenty-first centuries whose work first came to prominence in the 1960s. In recent years there have been revivals of several of his major plays, including Lear, Restoration and The Sea. Methuen Drama publishes eight volumes of his work.

"Bond's grimly powerful indignation is a reminder that a society that maintains an underclass tolerates a measure of barbarity."—The New York Times