Chicken Soup with Barley

Chicken Soup with Barley is a 1956 play by British playwright Arnold Wesker. It is the first of the 'Wesker trilogy'[1] – being followed by Roots and I'm Talking about Jerusalem – and was first performed on stage in 1958 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, transferring later that year to the Royal Court Theatre in London.[2] It is considered to be an important play in the history of post-war British theatre,[1] and one of the few English plays with a sympathetic portrayal of a communist family.[3] The character of Sarah was based on Arnold Wesker's aunt, Sarah Wesker,[4] who was a trade union activist in the East End of London.

A major revival, starring Samantha Spiro, was staged at the Royal Court in the summer of 2011.[5][6]

  1. ^ a b "Nottingham Playhouse". 15 January 2006. Archived from the original on 15 January 2006. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  2. ^ "Chicken Soup with Barley". Royal Court. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  3. ^ Billington, Michael (8 April 2005). "Why Wesker's Chicken Soup With Barley couldn't be more timely". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  4. ^ "Wesker Sarah". www.grahamstevenson.me.uk. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  5. ^ "Chicken Soup with Barley, Royal Court, London". The Independent. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).