Bingo (play)

Bingo:Scenes of Money and Death
Written by	Edward Bond
Characters	William Shakespeare Old Man Old Woman Judith William Combe Young Woman Son Ben Jonson Wally Joan Jerome 2nd Old Woman
Date premiered	14 November 1973
Place premiered	Northcott Theatre, Devon
Original language	English
Subject	Politics, Money, Role of the Artist
Genre	Political theatre
Setting	Warwickshire, 1615 and 1616

Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death is a 1973 play by English Marxist playwright Edward Bond. It 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.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Bond said, "Art has very practical consequences. Most 'cultural appreciation' ignores this and is no more relevant than a game of 'bingo' and less honest."

Bond cites William Shakespeare by E.K. Chambers as his source for information about the Welcombe enclosure, on which Bingo is based. In the introduction to Bingo Bond describes this incident: "A large part of his income came from rents (or tithes) paid on common fields at Welcombe near Stratford. Some important landowners wanted to enclose these fields... and there was a risk that the enclosure would affect Shakespeare's rents. He could either side with the landowners or with the poor who would lose their land and livelihood. He sided with the landowners. They gave him a guarantee against loss – and this is not a neutral document because it implies that should the people fighting the enclosers come to him for help he would refuse it. Well, the town did write to him for help and he did nothing."

Shakespeare is seated in his garden when the Young Woman arrives to beg. The Old Man takes her into the back garden for sex. The Old Woman tries to sound out Shakespeare's intentions with regards to Combe's land scheme and warns him that it will ruin local families. Combe arrives to convince Shakespeare to sign a contract stating that he will not interfere with the scheme, in exchange for the security of his own lands. Shakespeare hands Combe a paper stating his terms. The Old Man enters, followed by the Son, berating the Old Man for his sexual misconduct with the Young Woman. Combe interrogates her, but disbelieves her story, taking a haughty moralistic attitude. Combe and the Son take the Young Woman to be whipped for vagrancy and prostitution.

...
Wikipedia