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The Sea is a play written in 1973 by the English dramatist Edward Bond. It is a comedy set in a small village in rural East Anglia during the Edwardian period. The play draws from some of the themes of Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Set in 1907 in an East Anglian seaside community, the play begins with a tempestuous storm. A well-known and loved member of the community drowns, and the play explores the reactions of the villagers and the attempts by two young lovers to break away from the constraints of the hierarchical, and sometimes insane, society. At the same time, the town's draper struggles with abuse and bullying from the town's "First Lady", Mrs. Rafi. Believing that aliens from another planet have arrived to invade the city, he had refused to help the drowning man's friend's attempts to save him and eventually goes stark raving mad.
The play was originally produced at the Royal Court Theatre on 22 May 1973, directed by William Gaskill and produced in Britain by the Theatre Company in Helmsley. In 2008, Jonathan Kent produced the play at the Haymarket.
In 2007, The Actors Company Theatre (TACT) produced the play Off-Broadway in New York.