Chair

de Edward Bond

'Chair' is the third play in Bond's 'The Chair Plays' trilogy. In it, Alice is looking after Billy, a young man she took in to her home - illegally - when he was a baby. One day, when she witnesses a soldier escorting an old woman, someone Alice believes she knows, to prison, she offers a kindness: the soldier has been waiting with his prisoner for over three hours; Alice offers him chair to sit on. This basic, human gesture explodes the secure and private world that Alice had built to protect herself and Billy. 'Chair' was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 7 April 2000.