Lear

"I write about violence as naturally as Jane Austen wrote about manners. Violence shapes and obsesses our society, and if we do not stop being violent we have no future."

So said Edward Bond, who wrote his version of Lear, based on the Shakespeare character, in 1970. Alarmingly, his words are just as relevant today, says director Margaret Davis.

“We wall ourselves in or fence others out, justify violent action and pre-emptive strikes, engendering further violence in response,” Margaret says.

A recurring dramatic motif is the building of walls, which Margaret says is evocative of the now-fallen Berlin Wall, the current division between Israeli and Palestinian settlements, and reality of Australian detention centres.

“Bond argues that aggression is not innate, but a product of oppressive social structures,” Margaret says.

In this epic play, written in contemporary English, 20 third year actors tackle 80 roles in what Margaret describes as “a powerful and moving testament to the legacy of the 20th century”.

Now in his 70s, Bond is still producing plays but refuses to write them for established theatre companies. Instead he writes plays specifically for young actors studying at universities such as this one.

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