Arnold Wesker’s The Kitchen, premiered in 1959 and set in a busy London restaurant, is a very good example of those slice-of-life dramas which were so popular at the Royal Court and Stratford East in the late 1950’s. John Dexter’s brilliant production was a major reason for its success. The play, which works at both a realistic and a metaphorical level, also had a brilliant revival by Stephen Daldry in 1994.
Bijan Sheibani’s production, exciting and very enjoyable though it is, tends to overdo the choreography and orchestrations, regularly freezing the frame, stop-starting the motion, and adding a musical accompaniment. At one point the restaurant’s proprietor mounts a table in order to conduct the staff’s culinary routines.
The young Wesker had worked in three kitchens and knew all about the pressures, the frustrations, the utter lunacy and dehumanisation of mindless, soul-destroying drudgery. There must, he thought, surely, be more to life than this? The tempo gradually increases and builds to a frenetic rush-hour lunch with chefs, waitresses and porters working at full stretch to feed 2,000 customers. The mad turmoil and the sheer noise of shouted orders, banging utensils, clattering trays and broken plates, is one of the 20th century’s most unforgettable theatrical images. A fine ensemble is headed by a riveting performance by Tom Brooke as a very unhappy German chef.