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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 11.2300  Tuesday, 11 December 2000

From:           Tom Dale Keever <tdk3@columbia.edu>
Date:           Monday, 11 Dec 2000 10:31:49 -0500 (EST)
Subject: 11.2261 Re: Edward Bond's 'Bingo'
Comment:        Re: SHK 11.2261 Re: Edward Bond's 'Bingo'

>I saw Bingo at Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1976 (Patrick Stewart played the
>lead).  I subsequently read it.  Without any particular love for Edward
>Bond or Marxism, and despite my very particular love for Shakespeare, I
>think that it's the most distinguished work about the man ever written.
>The scene with Ben Jonson has haunted me for the past 25 years.

I, too, first saw this play back in the 70's in an excellent production
at CSC in New York, with Christopher Martin, who directed the play, as
Ben Jonson.

To disparage it without seeing how well it works on stage is very
foolish, as I never tire of telling my students.

Yes, the tavern scene is a minor masterpiece in the hands of a sharp
pair of players who know how to make it sing.  I still remember Martin's
querulous sneer when he demanded, "...and 'The Winter's Tale' - what was
THAT about?!?!"

I look forward to seeing the revival of Bond's early, and famously
controversial, "Saved" that will be mounted here in New York this spring
by Theatre for a New Audience after they have Peter Hall direct "Troilus
and Cressida."

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