Bingo

Summary

1990 BBC production of Bingo by Edward Bond.

Theatre play

Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death by Edward Bond (1934-) [more information]

Play synopsis

Bingo ‘depicts an ageing William Shakespeare at his Warwickshire home in 1615 and 1616, suffering pangs of conscience in part because he signed a contract which protected his landholdings, on the condition that he would not interfere with an enclosure of common lands that would hurt the local peasant farmers. Although the play is fictional, this contract has a factual basis. Bingo is a political drama heavily influenced by Bertolt Brecht and Epic theatre.' Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingo_%28play%29.

Production history

First staged at the Royal Court, London in 1974.

Date of transmission

Saturday 30 June 1990

Series

Theatre Night

Channel

BBC2

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Don Taylor (1936-2003)

Producer

Tim Ironside Wood

Playwright

Edward Bond (1934-)

Cast

Brenda Bruce	Old Woman
Madeline Church	Young Woman
Kenneth Haigh	Ben Jonson
Greg Hicks	Son
Peter Jeffrey	William Combe
George Malpas	Old Man
Ruth Mitchell	Judith
David Suchet	Shakespeare

Additional details

Play tags

17th-century setting; poetry and literature, as theme; politics

Audiovisual sources

Title

Bingo (BBC, 1990)

Archive

BBC Information and Archives [more information]

Address

White City
London
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)20 8008 2288

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/informationandarchives/

Access

BBC Information and Archives is not open to the public.

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 28 June 1990 (Magazine)

Linking notes

article, pp. 16 and 27; listing, p. 29