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: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1958

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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-…

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3064 words

Citation: Baker, William. "Chicken Soup with Barley". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 May 2021 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6038, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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