The Fool

Synopsis

Bond charts the life of the late eighteenth century peasant poet John Clare, as he descends from being the darling of the chattering classes into poverty and mental illness. We witness the painful plight of Clare's village friends as they try to defend their livelihoods as new ideas and machines gradually change the age-old traditions of rural life. Clare's art is destroyed because the society in which he lives, places no value on his unique voice. The villagers' way of life is destroyed because they do not have a voice with which to defend themselves. All this serves to highlight the state of the nation itself, which is too corrupted by class division and the capitalist economic system, to support the creative work and integrity of its citizens.

Our Review:

13 October 2010

It’s something of a disgrace that The Fool, a major work, on a par with Bingo and Lear, has had to wait until now to be revived, 35 years after Peter Gill’s Royal Court production.

A significant strength is having Edward Bond himself, an experienced director of his own plays, at the helm.

The Fool begins in 1815, with a post-Waterloo England in the throes of industrial and agricultural turmoil. The well-trodden territory of class unrest is explored, as a rural community, freed from the Napoleonic threat, struggles to shake off the tyranny of feudalism. The iconic scene where a frenzied mob rob and strip the local pastor, all but clawing the flesh from his bones, is deeply disturbing.

What emerges from this whirlpool of desperation is the story of the skirt-chasing, poet-peasant John Clare, whose brief peak declines into the “grotesque oblivion” of madness.

S...

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Latest User Review

Gareth James - 18 October 2010:

This is a biographical play about 19th century poet John Clare. In the first act, we see the events that influenced and preceded his writing. In an earlier recession, the poor rise up and rob the gentry in order to buy food to live. Some are imprisoned and hung, but Clare remains free. In the second act, we see him in London under the patronage of the rich and feted for his poetry. Back in East Anglia he goes insane and ends his days in an asylum. Like The Pope’s Wedding earlier in the Edward Bond season, it’s the performances that make the evening; they’ve again assembled a terrific company of 17 to play the 37 parts and amongst them I was hugely impressed by Ben Crispin as Clare, James Kenward (also excellent in Olly’s Prison) as Darkie / Jackson and Rosina Miles as Patty. There is some excellent staging, particularly a bare-fisted boxing match (fight movement Lawrence Carmichael) which had you on the edge of your seat. I was gripped for the whole 2 hours 45 mins, despite the intensely uncomfortable benches!...

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