The Kitchen

by Arnold Wesker

1950s London. In the kitchen of an enormous West End restaurant, the orders are piling up: a post-war feast of soup, fish, cutlets, omelettes and fruit flans.

‘Fifteen hundred customers an’ half of them eating fish. I had to start work on a Friday.’

Thrown together by their work, chefs, waitresses and porters from across Europe – English, Irish, German, Jewish – argue and flirt as they race to keep up. Peter, a high-spirited young cook, seems to thrive on the pressure. In between preparing dishes, he manages to strike up an affair with married waitress Monique, the whole time dreaming of a better life. But in the all-consuming clamour of the kitchen, nothing is far from the brink of collapse.

‘We all said we wouldn’t last the day, but tell me – what is there a man can’t get used to?’

Arnold Wesker’s extraordinary play premiered at the Royal Court in 1959 and has since been performed in over 30 countries. The Kitchen puts the workplace centre stage in a blackly funny and furious examination of life lived at breakneck speed, when work threatens to define who we are.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre

114 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Sir Arnold Wesker is a British dramatist known for his contributions to world drama. He is the author of 50 plays, 4 volumes of short stories, 2 volumes of essays, a book on journalism, a children's book, extensive journalism, poetry and other assorted writings. His plays have been translated into 17 languages and performed worldwide.

Reviews

[Grace Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, realistic yet so absurd. Beautiful build in the service scene. This play is absolutely an ensemble piece, and relies heavily on an understanding of tempo and of shifting atmospheres. Not to be attempted half-heartedly.

[Nyt · Rating 5 out of 5]

this play is hilarious, full of absurd things where one can see things shifting from chaos to mundane things and back to chaos like it didn't happen. while this is a kitchen sink drama , it also highlights the post war life of immigrants and then meeting the living. Characters talking about the most serious things in most mundane surroundings, being mouth piece of Arnold Wesker himself were my best parts , highlighting human life .

ps. i highly recommend to watch the play available on YouTube too , it helps us understand the play even better.

[Alex Castillo Barona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Llegué al texto después de ver la adaptación cinematográfica de Alonso Ruiz Palacios. Me maravilla que una obra de los años 50s siga tan vigente y me parece una genialidad la forma que tomó bajo la mano del director de cine mexicano. El texto original es poderoso y muy adelantado a su época. Buena lectura complementaria a la experiencia cinematográfica.

[fer bañuelos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mucho texto, muchos personajes, muchos diálogos, pero poco disfrute. Se sintió muy messy en el sentido que a mi parecer nunca se termina de concentrar en una sola cosa; es abrumante la cantidad de cosas que están sucediendo simultaneamente.

[Mxj · Rating 3 out of 5]

3, 3.5/5
This is the type of plays that doesn't really make it on paper but is probably amazing to see - a short and nice read, the ending was amazing in my opinion but some other scenes didn't make it as much

[Arknel Marques · Rating 1 out of 5]

A great exercise for an actor, but weak in everything else

[Deborah Pal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Si legge nel giro di poco tempo poiché si tratta di un libercolo ma forse non ne vale la pena

[Ronan Lynch · Rating 2 out of 5]

literal que

[Ione · Rating 1 out of 5]

This play is ludicrous.

[Mance · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading a year ago and finished today. Not much of a play reader. Ending was pretty strange.