Narrow Road to the Deep North

For the novel by Richard Flanagan, see The Narrow Road to the Deep North (novel).

For the work by the 17th-century Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, see Oku no Hosomichi.

Narrow Road to the Deep North is a 1968 satirical play on the British Empire by the English playwright Edward Bond (born 1934).

It is a political parable set in Japan in the Edo period. It deals with the poet Basho and the changing political landscape over about 35 years. It was first performed in 1968 for the Peoples and Cities conference.

Quotation

Of course, that's only a symbol, but we need symbols to protect us from ourselves.

References

• Review, Educational Theatre Journal, 24(2):195–197, May 1972.
• Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Edward Bond, Methuen Modern Plays, 1981, ISBN 978-0-413-30840-5.