Diaries, Letters and Essays

The title is perhaps explanation enough: Bond, the playwright responsible for Saved and Lear, has put together a collection of essays on various aspects of the theatre and the precarious position that it currently occupies. His views are uncompromising - at the beginning of the volume he makes his contempt for Britain's National Theatre evident and then proceeds to debate a wide variety of topics in the most discursive fashion. To use the word eclectic would be a euphemism: impenetrable is nearer the mark. There are a few nuggests of value but these get buried amidst the general torrent of passionate outcry that fuels this book. Bond clearly feels that there is much wrong with contemporary theatre, but such an odd and jumbled collection, comprising poetry, letters, musings on Brecht et al only confuses rather than clarifies, thus surely obscuring its reflective purpose. Less is more runs the maxim, and it could have been coined for this book: with greater cohesion and an attempt at more accessibility, something of real value could emerge. (Kirkus UK)