Fifties drama leaves lasting impression

“WHAT more is there to life than work, money and food?”, the restaurant owner asks the kitchen staff right at the end, and the question is left hanging.

Arnold Wesker’s 1950s play highlights the miserable lives of workers in a huge London kitchen and, although they all have dreams, they are never realised.

This National Theatre production, shown live on film at the arts centre theatre, captures a lot of the attitudes and culture of the fifties, such as the debate about hanging and football pools (in those days the big winner pocketed £35,000).

Director Bijan Sheibani cleverly blends the kitchen sink drama of people at work with a fast-moving ballet as the kitchen springs into life. In a wonderful piece of choreography, waitresses flit around while cooks mime the food preparation. Sheibani even called in the services of TV chef Jeremy Lee to advise the actors.

Tom Brooke who plays Peter, the oddball German cook, is outstanding as the play draws to a dramatic climax. He runs amok in the kitchen after his dream of running off with a waitress is dashed. And his misery is brought into sharp focus by the restaurant owner’s final question.

Although the arts centre’s broadcasts from the National do not quite have the atmosphere of a live show, they do have the ability to zoom right in on the action. And the anguish on Peter’s face at the end leaves a lasting impression.

Peter Gawthorpe