Jane Arden, a renowned actress, playwright, and filmmaker, was born in Wales in 1927 and relocated to London in her teenage years. She pursued her passion for the arts by training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA),where she began her career as an actress and playwright. It was during this time that she met her future husband, Philip Saville, who would go on to become a prominent figure in the film industry.
Arden's early work as a playwright included "The Thug" (1959),which starred Alan Bates, and "The Party" (1958),which was directed by Charles Laughton and featured Albert Finney in his first theatrical role. Her subsequent plays, such as "Post Mortem" (1999),"The New Communion For Freaks, Prophets and Witches" (1999),"The Illusionist" (1983),and "Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven" (1969),showcased her unique perspective on the human experience.
Arden's interest in exploring female oppression began in 1966, when she wrote the script for the film "The Logic Game" (1965). This surrealist puzzle aimed to capture the isolation of women within the context of bourgeois marriage. Her subsequent film career included her original script and performance in "Separation" (1968),which featured the song "Salad Days" by Procol Harum and was directed by her collaborator, Jack Bond.
In "Separation," Arden exposed the exploitation of women, whose personal struggles began to take on a political context. Her work continued to explore themes of female empowerment, as seen in her formation of the feminist theatre group "Holocaust" and her subsequent play of the same name. In 1972, she adapted and directed "The Other Side of Underneath" for the cinema.
Before her involvement with the Women's Liberation Movement, Arden appeared on TV talk programs like "Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life" (1964) as a speaker on women and politics. As an actress, she was best known for her performance as "Inez" in a BBC-TV production of Jean-Paul Sartre's "Huis clos" (1965),opposite Harold Pinter as "Garcia."
Arden's later work included two experimental films, "Vibration" (1974) and "Anti-Clock" (1979),both co-directed with Jack Bond. The latter film opened the 1979 London Film Festival and was the first to utilize video techniques in an experimental manner. Her poetry books include "You Don't Know What You Want, Do You?"
Tragically, Jane Arden took her own life on December 20, 1982, in North Yorkshire, at the age of 55. She is buried in Darlington West Cemetery.
