Edward Bond Plays:8 brings together recent work by the writer of the classic stage plays Saved , Lear, The Pope's Wedding, and Early Morning. The volume comprises five new plays and two prose essays: Two Cups : introductory essay Born : the third play in the Colline Tetralogy (the first two of which appear in Edward Bond Plays:7 ); premiering at the Avignon Festival in July 2006. People : the fourth play in the Colline Tetralogy Chair : first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2000. Existence : first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2002. The Under Room: first staged by Big Brum in October 2005; 'an intricate puzzle that is compelling in both its intellectual and emotional intensity'5 stars ( Guardian ) Freedom and Drama : an extended disquisition on the relationship of drama to the self and society in which Bond argues that drama alone can create human meaning. Edward Bond is widely regarded as the UK's greatest and most influential playwright. His plays include The Pope's Wedding (Royal Court Theatre, 1962), Saved (Royal Court, 1965), Early Morning (Royal Court, 1968), Lear (Royal Court, 1971), The Sea (Royal Court, 1973), The Fool (Royal Court, 1975), The Woman (National Theatre, 1978), Restoration (Royal Court, 1981) and The War Plays (RSC at the Barbican Pit, 1985).