Arnold Wesker, Chicken Soup with Barley

William Baker (Northern Illinois University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1958

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

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Chicken Soup with Barley

(1958) is a three-act drama by Arnold Wesker and the first in a trilogy based on his traumatic upbringing in the East End of London between 1936 and 1959. The other two plays in the trilogy are

Roots

(1959) and

I’m Talking About Jerusalem

(1960) which also explore what was to become Wesker’s life-time thematic concern with “lives wasted; people accepting second-best; lives of vulnerability from inadequate nourishment, spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually; lives stultified from the wrong choices based on chimeric dreams and self-delusion” (Baker).

The Belgrade Theatre in Coventry performed Chicken Soup on 7 July 1958. John Dexter (1925-1990) directed. Dexter and Wesker had a complex relationship, but he did go on to direct Wesker’s first five

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3065 words

Citation: Baker, William. "Chicken Soup with Barley". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 May 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6038, accessed 04 December 2024.]

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Arnold Wesker, Chicken Soup with Barley

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