In this paper I examine the dialectical theory of tragedy developed
by Edward Bond in his essays and in two recent plays, Coffee (1995) and
At the Inland Sea (1997). While they are not examples of realism, the plays
represent, in a somewhat abstract manner, the atrocities of the Second
World War. I argue that these plays use complete tragic actions not to
represent historic events, but rather to provoke, through their unusual
theatrical forms, a confrontation with the contradictions of History. The
potential function of this theatre is the generation of an historical consciousness.
In keeping with Bond’s hostility towards the alienating action of late
capitalist society, I suggest that his tragedies of historical consciousness
work within and against capitalism’s postmodern dehumanization through
their production of untenable yet necessary contradictions.
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