On October 26, 1930, Arden was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England. The son of Charles Alwyn Arden, a glass factory manager, and Annie Elizabeth (nee Layland), a schoolteacher, Arden attended local schools until the beginning of World War II. For his safety, he was then sent to a public school in Sedbergh, Yorkshire.

After graduation, Arden served in the Army's Intelligence Corps for eighteen months. He then entered King's College at Cambridge University to study architecture. In 1953 he earned his B.A. and continued to study architecture at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland.

In Edinburgh, Arden wrote his first play, All Fall Down, for a college drama group. After receiving his diploma in 1955, he moved to London to work as an architect's assistant.

By 1957 Arden's plays were being produced. The first was The Waters of Babylon, an experimental piece that utilized verse and song. With the initial...