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Saved
Described by its author as 'almost irresponsibly optimistic', Saved is a play set in London in the sixties. Its subject is the cultural poverty and frustration of a generation of young people on the dole and living on council estates. The play was first staged privately in November 1965 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, before members of the English Stage Society in a time when plays were still censored. With its scenes of violence, including the stoning of a baby, Saved became a notorious play and a cause celebre. In a letter to the Observer, Sir Laurence Olivier wrote: 'Saved is not a play for children but it is for grown-ups, and the grown-ups of this country should have the courage to look at it.' Saved has had a marked influence on a whole new generation writing in the 1990s.
Edward Bond is "a great playwright - many, particularly in continental Europe, would say the greatest living English playwright" (Independent)
Edward Bond is "a great playwright - many, particularly in continental Europe, would say the greatest living English playwright" (Independent)
124 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
December 17, 2023
100th book of the year, and another grim read. Set in London in the sixties, Saved is a play confronting cultural poverty and the frustration of a generation of young people living on a council estate on the dole.
At its first production in 1965, there was uproar in response to its content, with violence erupting in the foyers. It's extremely brutal, featuring the cruel murder of a baby stoned to death in a pram.
Its characters are loathsome, particularly the central character Pam who lacks motherly instinct and is completely devoid of any moral compass. The same can be said for the group of 'men' who commit the heinous murder.
Bleak and unflinching, there is little enjoyable about the play, yet it serves as a reminder of art's role in pushing boundaries, and in confronting wider cultural, societal and political issues.
At its first production in 1965, there was uproar in response to its content, with violence erupting in the foyers. It's extremely brutal, featuring the cruel murder of a baby stoned to death in a pram.
Its characters are loathsome, particularly the central character Pam who lacks motherly instinct and is completely devoid of any moral compass. The same can be said for the group of 'men' who commit the heinous murder.
Bleak and unflinching, there is little enjoyable about the play, yet it serves as a reminder of art's role in pushing boundaries, and in confronting wider cultural, societal and political issues.
April 23, 2017
The Significance of the Title of the Play, Saved
On the surface, the title of the play has nothing to do with what dramatically happens. Moreover, “saved” implies a kind of religious salvation, but ironically no one achieves such a salvation. In fact, no one can expect such a salvation because no one prays, no one cares about God, and whenever characters invoke God, it is either a situation of indignation or impatience. Therefore, the play implies some sort of moral skepticism, and we can’t observe morality among the majority of character. Pete, Collin, Fred, Mike, and Barry are absolutely devoid of morality. Even in case of Pete, not only does he erupt the attack on Pam’s baby, but also he is proud of his first degree murder of child, and seeks the praise of the other that is unsurprisingly granted to him.
What is saved in one sense is the family that I consider as a microcosm of working-class society, and the savior, the working class Christ figure, is Len. If so, the final scene is notably crucial to this sense of the title. In the final scene, we can see that Len has forborn from his decision to abandon the family, and is fixing a chair. Symbolically, the chair stands for the family. It has three firm legs and one loose one, and Len is the fourth leg of family without him the family can’t be secure. Repairing the chair and correspondingly the family, Len saves a family on the brink of disintegration. Pam is seen, reading her ‘Radio Times’, and she has a completely different mood from the previous scenes in which she wanted to kill herself. Mary is cleaning the table after the dinner that the family have had. Harry is filling his football bet which he left unfilled in scene 9. Moreover, there is no argument in this scene.
Another sense of the title is the survival of hope. In a note on the play, Edward Bond asserts that the only realistic thing to do is clinging at “straws” of hope. Again the ending scene bestows the title its significance. All of the characters are positive and optimistic even meagerly. Pam is reading her paper, and however such an act is a simple yet it is a beginning. Mary “wipes the table”, and keeps herself neat, taking her apron off and folding it neatly. Harry is filling his football bet; it is, on the one hand, a futile act, but on the other hand a gesture of hope. The focuses of the scene, Len and chair, are the last important hint of the survival of hope. The only dialogue expressed in this scene is “Fetch me ‘ammer” –– Len asks Pam. Although Pam does not bring him the hammer, Len does not quit. If no one helps him, again he continues his work. The hints of optimism are, as bond says, straws, but they are wise.
On the surface, the title of the play has nothing to do with what dramatically happens. Moreover, “saved” implies a kind of religious salvation, but ironically no one achieves such a salvation. In fact, no one can expect such a salvation because no one prays, no one cares about God, and whenever characters invoke God, it is either a situation of indignation or impatience. Therefore, the play implies some sort of moral skepticism, and we can’t observe morality among the majority of character. Pete, Collin, Fred, Mike, and Barry are absolutely devoid of morality. Even in case of Pete, not only does he erupt the attack on Pam’s baby, but also he is proud of his first degree murder of child, and seeks the praise of the other that is unsurprisingly granted to him.
What is saved in one sense is the family that I consider as a microcosm of working-class society, and the savior, the working class Christ figure, is Len. If so, the final scene is notably crucial to this sense of the title. In the final scene, we can see that Len has forborn from his decision to abandon the family, and is fixing a chair. Symbolically, the chair stands for the family. It has three firm legs and one loose one, and Len is the fourth leg of family without him the family can’t be secure. Repairing the chair and correspondingly the family, Len saves a family on the brink of disintegration. Pam is seen, reading her ‘Radio Times’, and she has a completely different mood from the previous scenes in which she wanted to kill herself. Mary is cleaning the table after the dinner that the family have had. Harry is filling his football bet which he left unfilled in scene 9. Moreover, there is no argument in this scene.
Another sense of the title is the survival of hope. In a note on the play, Edward Bond asserts that the only realistic thing to do is clinging at “straws” of hope. Again the ending scene bestows the title its significance. All of the characters are positive and optimistic even meagerly. Pam is reading her paper, and however such an act is a simple yet it is a beginning. Mary “wipes the table”, and keeps herself neat, taking her apron off and folding it neatly. Harry is filling his football bet; it is, on the one hand, a futile act, but on the other hand a gesture of hope. The focuses of the scene, Len and chair, are the last important hint of the survival of hope. The only dialogue expressed in this scene is “Fetch me ‘ammer” –– Len asks Pam. Although Pam does not bring him the hammer, Len does not quit. If no one helps him, again he continues his work. The hints of optimism are, as bond says, straws, but they are wise.
August 11, 2017
I guess I'm desensitised by the fifty years between me and this play, but I'm not even a little bit taken aback by it. The introduction in my copy talked about Bond's socialist leanings but this felt like the sensationalising of the working poor more than anything.
January 19, 2014
I just don't like reading stuff like this. I'm not saying it isn't important or well-done or thought provoking, I just didn't enjoy reading it.
August 23, 2014
I find Edward Bond's plays to be hit and miss. The hits are amazing: cruel, intelligent, sharp. The losses read like failed intellectual experiments: pompous, annoying, silly.
"Saved" is more than just a hit. It is one of the most important plays ever penned. The dialogue is so perfect it creates the characters on the page. The dramatic situation is so tense and real it feels like a car crash. And the dramatic action leaves you shocked.
The baby tram incident in the park is unlike any other scene I know of in contemporary drama. Audiences couldn't sit through it when it premiered and it was the reason the play was suppressed and not performed for many years.
There is power in this play. You can't unread it. And you won't want to read it again but you will.
C
"Saved" is more than just a hit. It is one of the most important plays ever penned. The dialogue is so perfect it creates the characters on the page. The dramatic situation is so tense and real it feels like a car crash. And the dramatic action leaves you shocked.
The baby tram incident in the park is unlike any other scene I know of in contemporary drama. Audiences couldn't sit through it when it premiered and it was the reason the play was suppressed and not performed for many years.
There is power in this play. You can't unread it. And you won't want to read it again but you will.
C
January 21, 2018
Council estate denizens live out a depressing and vicious cycle of violence and ill will and in the end adapt enough to continue to do so.
The dialogue in this play is thickly stylized and hard to follow, even if the reader is familiar with British English vernacular. The characters are unsympathetic, the action is depressing.
I understand Bond pushed the bounds of censorship with this play. And I know these types of situations exist. I did not get much from immersing in it.
Can't recommend.
The dialogue in this play is thickly stylized and hard to follow, even if the reader is familiar with British English vernacular. The characters are unsympathetic, the action is depressing.
I understand Bond pushed the bounds of censorship with this play. And I know these types of situations exist. I did not get much from immersing in it.
Can't recommend.
Read
October 16, 2015
???????
I have no idea what this play is about. Maybe I'll be smarter after we discuss it in class. Also that scene... I expected worse. I am a heartless creature.
December 5, 2024
I’m having to study this play for my Drama A-level. it’s a great play with lots of deep themes and underlying issues. Easy to understand, yet gives a sense of uneasiness when reading, but for all the right reasons
July 2, 2012
Young Len and Pam meet and head back to her parents' for a casual, anonymous encounter, but quickly find they share the same sense of humor and Len is actually a good guy. Pam's parents let a room in their South London house to him with no thought other than his being employed and paying rent. This arrangement doesn't work for long because Pam is no more of a deep thinker than her parents. She quickly meets Fred and her love for Len turns to hate in an instant as she flaunts her new relationship, has a baby with her indifferent new boyfriend and turns out to be the worst mother a child could have.
This play was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1965, before a members-only audience. The theatre had been refused a license to perform the play to the general public due to its graphic language and the now infamous scene of a baby being stoned to death by a group of young men (the baby is never seen or heard, it's just the carriage and actors onstage). Nearly fifty years later that scene is still brutal, but its reason for being, and the point of the play is still valid. Pam, Fred and his group of friends, and to some point, Pam's parents, are barely civilized. The ability to reason and see consequences, are seriously impaired. Pam screeches out every bit of her anger;it's her first response to even a misplaced magazine. Fred and his friends lack the humanity that allows people to attach themselves to another person. Other than having mates to drink with and bum cigarettes off, they don't really like each other. Len is the one who attempts to cobble together a home for himself with Pam and her horrible family, who tries to get Pam interested in her own child, and the reader wishes he would flee, as the fact that he's the only one here with a conscience leaves him so isolated.
This play was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1965, before a members-only audience. The theatre had been refused a license to perform the play to the general public due to its graphic language and the now infamous scene of a baby being stoned to death by a group of young men (the baby is never seen or heard, it's just the carriage and actors onstage). Nearly fifty years later that scene is still brutal, but its reason for being, and the point of the play is still valid. Pam, Fred and his group of friends, and to some point, Pam's parents, are barely civilized. The ability to reason and see consequences, are seriously impaired. Pam screeches out every bit of her anger;it's her first response to even a misplaced magazine. Fred and his friends lack the humanity that allows people to attach themselves to another person. Other than having mates to drink with and bum cigarettes off, they don't really like each other. Len is the one who attempts to cobble together a home for himself with Pam and her horrible family, who tries to get Pam interested in her own child, and the reader wishes he would flee, as the fact that he's the only one here with a conscience leaves him so isolated.
March 15, 2023
"The play ends in silent social stalemate, but if audiences think this is pessimistic that is because they have not learned to clutch at straws. Clutching at straws is the only realistic thing to do. The alternative, apart from the self-indulgence of pessimism, is a fatuous optimism. The gesture of turning the other cheek is often a way of refusing to look facts in the face. This is not true of Len. He lives with people at their most hopeless (that is the point of the final scene) and does not turn away from them. I cannot imagine an optimism more tenacious or honest than this."
December 6, 2023
How I love the stark brutality and sadistic nature of the play. I feel as if the reading of the play has enforced some kind of desensitization toward violence and you can't help but feel numbed to it. This makes me question if the post-war period has left residues where violence could be celebrated because of the looming moral absence pervading in the society (?)
P.S. The pram scene at the park is exceptionally controversial and it'd be even more thought-provoking to see how the stage could/would render it.
P.S. The pram scene at the park is exceptionally controversial and it'd be even more thought-provoking to see how the stage could/would render it.
June 1, 2024
I read this playscript for an Open University course - it was held up as an example of ground-breaking work. Similar to Sarah Kane's 'Blasted', it's extremely bleak and violent. I would feel uncomfortable watching this play at the theatre, because of the content, but on the other hand, Edward Bond (who I just discovered died only recently, in March 2024, at the age of 89) clearly had a point of view on British society at that time, and I admire that he had something to say and was so uncompromising.
April 22, 2025
Perhaps at the time a shocking pull back of the curtain, but nowadays feels like a bit of standard poor bashing.
There is little to be liked about any of the characters and so I don’t care for them when reading, I’m not invested. There actions and decisions also feel implausible and ridiculous as a result.
I did find it an interesting read but as a play, the stage directions are also contradictory to the ‘bare stage’ description. Another that probably needs a stage and a vision to come to life.
There is little to be liked about any of the characters and so I don’t care for them when reading, I’m not invested. There actions and decisions also feel implausible and ridiculous as a result.
I did find it an interesting read but as a play, the stage directions are also contradictory to the ‘bare stage’ description. Another that probably needs a stage and a vision to come to life.
January 22, 2021
**uni read - britain modern stage**
while I can appreciate how well written and thought provoking this is, the things addressed are far too jarring for true enjoyment to come from reading this. maybe seeing it performed would change this experience, but I found the events and the reactions to them too shocking to truly like the read.
while I can appreciate how well written and thought provoking this is, the things addressed are far too jarring for true enjoyment to come from reading this. maybe seeing it performed would change this experience, but I found the events and the reactions to them too shocking to truly like the read.
October 28, 2024
The kind of obscurely dialogued, go-nowhere-violently play I love—but the dialect it’s written in is annoying. There’s a great essay from Bond at the start of my copy that expounds his views on violence and society, and I wondered: if he was capable of being so articulate on the subject, why was he so opaque about it here as to be almost incomprehensible?
January 23, 2025
An absolutely savage read! I’d be fascinated to see this one live as I can imagine the devastation it would evoke in a modern day audience. It’s a brilliant play that explores the brutal truths of life on the dole in the sixties. I marked it as a 3 star read, only because I had some difficulty pushing through the dialect at times. It’s brilliant (but scary stuff!)
February 14, 2025
Well…it’s a hard play to read and I imagine to watch even more so. I think the most interesting part was the author’s note with quotes like “Clearly the stoning to death of a baby in a London park is a typical English understatement” and “Like most people I am a pessimist by experience but an optimist by nature. I shall go on being true to my nature. It is often a mistake to learn from experience”.
A truly, truly dark play to show that morality has been twisted and completely disregarded in modern society.
A truly, truly dark play to show that morality has been twisted and completely disregarded in modern society.
February 28, 2019
Interesting
Read
January 15, 2020how to download this
February 10, 2020
There's a reason this play is famous and considered a "must-read" for anyone with an interest in the history of British theatre.
You'll be shocked.
You'll be shocked.
May 12, 2021
An eye opening and intresting insight into the South London scene of the 60s, yet not everyone's cup of tea.
May 14, 2021
emotionally speechless or emotionlessly speechless?
October 14, 2025
what im gathering from 20th century drama (particularly post war) is that everybody hated their lives and couldn't tolerate their spouses
October 26, 2025
I had to act out the Carriage scene… almost made me sick. It is an incredible piece of media. I will probably never read it again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 21, 2020
I really didn't enjoy reading this. It may have stopped the censorship of plays, but I think this one should've been censored. I will only remember this play for the horrific thing that happens near the end of act one. Don't think that's what the writer intended, but how can you not?
When I watch or read anything it has to contain everything I need to understand it, this play didn't you need to do outside research. Which to me just meant that the play was boring and couldn't stand on it's own.
Being "edgy" doesn't mean it's good.
When I watch or read anything it has to contain everything I need to understand it, this play didn't you need to do outside research. Which to me just meant that the play was boring and couldn't stand on it's own.
Being "edgy" doesn't mean it's good.
October 22, 2023
دهه شصت انگلستان، زمانیکه نویسندههای جوون شروع کردن به تاختن بر تمام ارزشهای اخلاقی و اجتماعی کشورشون، دقیقاً زمانی که این اثر توسط ادوارد باند جوان نوشته شد. نمایشنامهای که امروزه بیشتر در دورههای تئاترشناسی و درامنویسی معاصر درموردش حرف میزنن و شاید کارگردانها دوست نداشته باشن برن سراغ اجرای این کار. اما وضعیت اخلاقی که باند ترسیم میکنه و مخاطب رو در این اکتشاف زجر میده واقعاً تکرارنشدنیه. مشخصاً سنگسار کردن یک نوزاد در کالسکه، تصویری نیست که هیچ مخاطبی بتونه تا آخر عمرش فراموشش کنه
January 3, 2013
I took a drama class during my second semester of college, and this was on the reading list.
I would be lying if I said it wasn't that bad--it was brutal and horrifying. That is exactly what made me love it. It's messed up and accidental, just like our current world. Saved isn't for the weak hearted, but the emotions it draws out are unforgettable.
Talking about the book more technically, the diction is a monster. As an American, I couldn't wrap my head around the British terminology; even worse, I struggled with their uneducated dialogue--that's what made the play more believable.
I would be lying if I said it wasn't that bad--it was brutal and horrifying. That is exactly what made me love it. It's messed up and accidental, just like our current world. Saved isn't for the weak hearted, but the emotions it draws out are unforgettable.
Talking about the book more technically, the diction is a monster. As an American, I couldn't wrap my head around the British terminology; even worse, I struggled with their uneducated dialogue--that's what made the play more believable.
February 18, 2017
3.5 stars. "Saved" is definitely one of the most confronting plays I've ever read, featuring an event that I knew was coming and something I tend to avoid reading about. But at the same time, it left me shocked and impacted, which is exactly what I want from a theatrical piece. The dialogue was perfect, captivating the Cockney/South Londoner characters on the page. I don't know if I will ever read it again, but I certainly won't forget it.
January 16, 2016
Urgh.
Being a piece of assigned reading and a play of about only 90 pages or so, I made myself read this over the course of a day. I am just thankful that it was only a matter of hours that I had to endure this, any longer and I may have had to toss it upon burning embers.
Being a piece of assigned reading and a play of about only 90 pages or so, I made myself read this over the course of a day. I am just thankful that it was only a matter of hours that I had to endure this, any longer and I may have had to toss it upon burning embers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews