*Edward Bond Plays:8* brings together recent work by the writer of the classic stage plays *Saved* , *Lear, The Pope’s Wedding, and Early Morning.* The volume comprises five new plays and two prose essays: **Two Cups** : introductory essay **Born** : the third play in the *Colline Tetralogy* (the first two of which appear in *Edward Bond Plays:7* ); premiering at the Avignon Festival in July 2006. **People** : the fourth play in the *Colline Tetralogy* **Chair** : first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2000. **Existence** : first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2002. The Under Room: first staged by Big Brum in October 2005; ‘an intricate puzzle that is compelling in both its intellectual and emotional intensity’5 stars ( *Guardian* ) **Freedom and Drama** : an extended disquisition on the relationship of drama to the self and society in which Bond argues that drama alone can create human meaning.