Theatrical lecture Module
“THE KITCHEN”
by
“The Kitchen. A play in two parts with an interlude” was written by
Arnold Wesker in 1957. This play was first presented
at the Royal Court Theatre on
There are a lot of
characters in this play. Firstly I will name them all and then I will describe
the most important. The complete cast is: Magi, Max, Bertha, Molly, Winnie, Mangolis, Paul, Raymond, Hettie, Violet, Anne, Gwen, Daphne, Cynthia, Dimitri, Betty, Jackie, Hans, Monique, Alfredo, Michael,
Gaston, Kevin, Nicholas, Peter, Frank, the Chef, the Head Waiter, Marango and a Tramp. All these characters have in common
that they are workers of the same restaurant but each one carries out a
different job in it. Marango is the owner of the
restaurant. I think he is in the best position because the rest are only simple
employers who have to work to him. The employers of the restaurant are from
different nations. There are ones that are older than the others. As the writer
say in some explanations before the play, “Peter
is the main character”. He is German. As the writer tells us, “He is boisterous, aggressive, too merry, and
yet good-natured”. His character may be violent because he is in a
difficult situation, like the others, but more difficult in my opinion. He complains
a lot. I think this is the major character in this play and for the writer it
is too because he tells us at the beginning of the play when he describes a
group of characters. Frank and Alfredo are chefs, Hans is in charge of fry,
Peter boils the fish, Kevin fries the fish, Gaston is in the grill, Michael is
in charge of eggs, Bertha is the vegetable cook, the kitchen porter is Mangolis, the desserts and coffee are Anne’s task, the
butcher is Max, Nicholas is in charge of the cold buffet, Raymond and Paul are
the pastrycooks, and the chef as I have said, Mr. Marango is the owner of the restaurant. All the characters
are simple workers, that is to say, they only think about their work, they have
a life outside of the restaurant, but like a lot of people, they have to work
and work.
During
the play the characters appear in the kitchen, sharing, primarily, the kitchen
work and having arguments, like the fight between Peter and Gaston, but at the
same time they share good moments. They do not have other things to do except
work, they complain about this.
In
terms of space and time, the play develops in one space, the kitchen. The time
I think is the writer’s time.
The
language that is used is very easy to understand. I believe that the characters
are street people, i.e., they constitute the “populace”. They are simple
workers.
I
think the author of this play is showing us the social, economic and politic
situation of his time, the real world, after the war, when people needed to
work a lot to nourish their families principally and to maintain and preserve their
possessions, if they have any. This is an important aspect of life, what can we
do to sustain us in poor times. It is important to know how people have to do
this, work as much as they can. And the closed kitchen is as the society, that was closed for other things that were not
work. It was difficult to study this play, because it is so doubting
about the topic that is dealt with in it.