Edward Bond: a phenomenal talent who upturned theatre with his explosive plays

One of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century, Bond – who has died aged 89 – confronted audiences with ‘the crisis in the human species’

Edward Bond, who has died aged 89, was a phenomenal dramatist who wrote more than 50 plays, many of which helped change the face of contemporary theatre. If, in his later years, he was more honoured abroad than in the UK, it was for a variety of reasons.

One was his own intransigence, which led him to fall out with many of the major theatrical institutions. Another was that his self-declared mission to confront audiences with “the crisis in the human species” found more willing hearers in France and Germany than at home. Yet he remains one of the great post-second world war dramatists.