Bingo (play)
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Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death is a 1974 play by English Marxist playwright Edward Bond. It depicts an aging William Shakespeare 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.[1] Bingo is a political drama heavily influenced by Bertolt Brecht and Epic theater.[2]
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[edit] Explanation of the Title
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."[3]
[edit] Characters
William Shakespeare Bond's Shakespeare is depressed and introspective, concerned more with financial security than with art or the people around him; he is notably silent during several scenes.
Judith Shakespeare's daughter; she resents Shakespeare's treatment of her mother
William Combe A wealthy landowner scheming to enclose the common lands for his own profit
Old Man Shakespeare's gardener, mentally handicapped after spending three years in a press gang
Old Woman The Old Man's wife, Shakespeare's housekeeper
Young Woman A displaced beggar woman, prostitute, and pyromaniac
Son of the Old Man and Woman, a religious zealot who leads a rebellion party against Combe
Ben Jonson Shakespeare's drinking buddy and theatrical rival
[edit] Plot Summary
[edit] Part One
[edit] Scene One
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.
[edit] Scene Two
Six months later. The Old Woman tells Judith about her husband's condition and his history with the press gang, but Judith takes a moralistic tone, condemning the Old Man for his infidelity and irresponsibility. Later, Shakespeare and the Old Man are in the garden when the Young Woman returns. She is physically decimated, having been living in burned out barns all winter, supported by the Old Man. Shakespeare tells Judith to give the woman food and clothing, but Judith resents her and refuses. The woman hides in the orchard when Combe arrives to give Shakespeare the contract, which he signs. Judith enters and tells Combe that the woman has returned; he sends his men to apprehend her. Judith berates her father for his toleration of their misconduct and his lack of sympathy with the local people: "You don't notice these things. You must learn that people have feelings. They suffer." (Lines 448-9) Judith soon feels guilty at being the cause of the woman's punishment, and regrets turning her in. The Old Man breaks down crying because he knows that the woman will be executed for arson, having burned down several barns. He describes the public spectacle of an execution as a festivity he used to enjoy, but can no longer endure.
[edit] Scene Three
The Young Woman has been executed, and hangs on a gibbet on stage. While Shakespeare sits alone, the Son and several local laborers eat lunch. The Son talks about the woman's sin, also making pointed comments about Shakespeare. The Son and his friend Wally look into the dead woman's face and engage in vehement prayer, jumping and shouting. When they leave, Shakespeare tells Judith about the violent scene of a bear-baiting that took place next to the theatre. Shakespeare relates his despair: "What does it cost to stay alive? I'm stupified by the suffering I've seen" (675-6).
[edit] Part Two
[edit] Scene Four
Shakespeare and Ben Jonson are drinking in a tavern. Jonson has come to tell Shakespeare that the Globe Theatre has burned down, and to ask Shakespeare what he is writing. Their conversation and their attitude towards literature are unglamorous: "I hate writing. Fat white fingers excreting dirty black ink. Smudges. Shadows. Shit. Silence" Jonson says (808-810). Jonson recounts a life of violence, compared with Shakespeare's "serene" existence. As the two get increasingly inebriated, the Son and the workers enter, having just had an encounter with Combe's men while destroying Combe's ditches and fences. They see themselves as religious soldiers against the "rich thieves plunderin' the earth" (925). Combe confronts them, claiming that he represents progress and realism.
[edit] Scene Five
Shakespeare is walking home from the tavern through the fresh snow, coming across the Old Man, who is throwing snowballs. Judith enters and scolds Shakespeare; Shakespeare tells her that after temporarily abandoning her mother, he tried to love Judith with money, but ended up making her materialistic and vulgar. She leaves him, and as he sits alone in the snow, several dark figures run by backstage, and a gunshot is heard. The Old Woman comes to bring Shakespeare home.
[edit] Scene Six
Shakespeare is in bed, half delirious, repeating the phrase "Was anything done?" (1197). Judith and her mother knock on the door calling for Shakespeare to let them in, gradually becoming hysterical when he does not respond, until finally he slips his will to them under the door and they leave. The Son enters, and tells Shakespeare that in a scuffle with Combe's men he shot his father, the Old Man. Combe enters, and the Son hypocritcally accuses him of shooting the Old Man. While Combe and the Old Man argue, Shakespeare takes poison pills he had taken from Jonson. Combe and the Son leave, unaware that Shakespeare is dying. Judith enters, and paying no care to her dying father, she ransacks the room looking for money or a second will.
[edit] Quotations
"When I go to my theatre I walk under sixteen severed heads on a gate. You hear bears in the pit while my characters talk." (689-691)
"Every writer writes in other men's blood." (1149)
"I howled when they suffered, but they were whipped and hanged so that I could be free." (1288-90)
