The Kitchen

(Paperback)

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Description

Arnold Wesker's perennially popular play The Kitchen will be revived at the National Theatre in October 2011.Set in the basement kitchen of a large restaurant, thirty chefs, waitresses, and kitchen porters, slowly begin the day preparing to serve lunch. The central story tells of a frustrated love affair between a high-spirited, young, German chef, Peter, and a married English waitress, Monique.

Reviews

""Flashing, illuminating, moving, funny, passionate, authentic - " - Bernard Levin, Daily Express "Achieves something that few playwrights have ever attempted; it dramatizes work - rising at the end of the first half to a climactic lunch-hour frenzy that is the fullest theatrical expression I have ever seen of the laws of supply and demand." - Kenneth Tynan, The Observer ""... a masterpiece of construction. This National revival confirms its exhilarating theatrical cosmopolitanism as well as its historical poignancy and significance."" - 4* The Independent ""[Wesker] is a dramatist of heart and humanity... a drama of daring ambition and technical invention [that] grips throughout."" 4*, The Telegraph ""The beauty of the play is that the action stems from the rhythms of work yet behind the frenzy lurks an awareness of life's unrealised potential."" 3* Stars The Guardian ""Wesker's strength is his ear for the cadences of ordinary life and a political passion for those who lead it - with wit and energy it keeps you gasping."" - The Times ""Wesker presents us with a fascinating microcosm of the melting-pot of post-war London - [and] the tyranny of the working world"" - Evening Standard ""Anyone who has worked in a restaurant knows the sort of staff they can attract: drinkers, fighters, slackers, sex maniacs. That is the brilliance of Sir Arnold Wesker's play"" - Daily Mail ""A fascinating portrait of post-war, pre-pill Britain's working class - Look behind the counter at McDonald's 50 years on and, but for the hairnets and the fags, little has changed."" - Mail on Sunday"

Author Bio

SIR ARNOLD WESKER is one of Britains most prolific and well-known playwrights. Knighted in 2006 for services to drama, he is the author of 42 plays and volumes of short stories, essays, poetry and journalism. His work has been translated into 18 languages, and his played are performed worldwide.