Best of Edward Bond

'Edward Bond at the Haymarket? Images of square pegs and round holes come to mind,' writes Michael Billington in his review of The Sea. The play, set in a coastal village roughly 100 years ago, stars Eileen Atkins and David Haig Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Bond made a name for himself with the notorious Saved, which was banned by the Lord Chamberlain's office but staged at the Royal Court in 1965. Elisabeth Wiener and Hugues Quester starred in a 1972 revival of the play in Paris (seen above). Bond continues to enjoy a strong critical reputation in France Photograph: Lipnitzki/Roger Viollet/Getty Images

Saved presented a lacerating vision of violence in London, especially its infamous baby-stoning scene - shown here in the 1984 revival at the Royal Court. The production was directed by Danny Boyle and designed by Peter Hartwell Photograph: Donald Cooper

Bond has occasionally worked in the cinema, especially in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He contributed English dialogue to Antonioni's arthouse classic Blow-Up (1966), starring David Hemmings as a fashion photographer caught up in a murder mystery Photograph: Cinetext/Allstar

Bond wrote the screenplay for Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout (1971), an adaptation of the James Vance Marshall about a brother and sister stranded in the Australian outback Photograph: PR

One of Bond's acutest attacks on the British class system was the 1981 play Restoration, seen here in a 1989 revival at the Pit, directed by Roger Michell and starring Simon Russell Beale Photograph: Donald Cooper

The Sea was staged at London's National Theatre in a 1991 production directed by Sam Mendes and starring Judi Dench. Bond has described the play as 'a comedy that argues it is possible to change the world' Photograph: Donald Cooper

Bond's 1971 play Lear was revived at Sheffield's Crucible theatre in 2005, starring Patrick Godfrey and directed by Jonathan Kent Photograph: Catherine Ashmore

Ian McDiarmid as Lear at the Crucible in Sheffield in 2005. 'Edward Bond's 1971 epic doesn't show its age,' thought Lyn Gardner at the time. 'In fact, it seems scarily prescient. To see it in Jonathan Kent's steely production is to be scared by it. It brands you with its appalling cruelty and its terrible beauty' Photograph: Catherine Ashmore

While The Sea opens in London, another Bond play - The Children - is staged by Dundee Rep and the local youth theatre company in January 2008. The play explores the horrors of youth Photograph: Robert McBride

'I'm an extremist,' Edward Bond told Michael Billington - and his plays continue to provoke extreme reactions. The Sea is at Theatre Royal Haymarket until April 19 2008 Photograph: Eamonn McCabe