Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an

English drama Drama was introduced to Britain from Europe by the Romans, and auditoriums were constructed across the country for this purpose. But England didn't exist until hundreds of years after the Romans left. Medieval period By the medieval period, ...

tist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and other assorted writings. His plays have been translated into 20 languages, and performed worldwide.

Early life

Wesker was born in

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appli ...

, London, in 1932, the son of Leah (née Cecile Leah Perlmutter), a cook, and Joseph Wesker, a tailor's machinist and active communist. Arnold Wesker was delivered by Samuel Sacks, father of neurologist

Oliver Sacks Oliver Wolf Sacks, (9 July 1933 – 30 August 2015) was a British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and writer. Born in Britain, Sacks received his medical degree in 1958 from The Queen's College, Oxford, before moving to the Uni ...

. He attended a Jewish Infants School in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

. His education was then fragmented during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He was briefly evacuated to Ely,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to t ...

, before returning to London where he attended Dean Street School during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

. He then returned to live with his parents who had moved to a council flat in Hackney, East London, where he attended Northwold Road School. He then attended Upton House Central School, Hackney, from 1943. This was a school where emphasis was placed on teaching office skills, including typing, to bright boys who however had not been selected for

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

places. He was then evacuated again to

Llantrisant Llantrisant (; " Parish of the Three Saints") is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The three saints of the town's name are ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

.An education in the life of Arnold Wesker at ''The Independent''
Retrieved 13 April 2016 He was accepted into the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

but could not afford to take up his place there. Later, he served for two years in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

, and then went on to work as cook, furniture maker, and bookseller. After saving up enough money, he went to study at the London School of Film Technique, now known as the

London Film School London Film School (LFS) is a film school in London and is situated in a converted brewery in Covent Garden, London, neighbouring Soho, a hub of the UK film industry. It is the oldest film school in the UK.

Career

His inspiration for 1957 play ''

The Kitchen The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was foun ...

'', which was later made into a film, came when he was working at the Bell Hotel in Norwich. It was while working here that he met his future wife Dusty. Wesker's plays have dealt with themes including self-discovery, love, confronting death and political disillusion. '' Chicken Soup with Barley'' (1958) went out to the provinces. Rather than opening in the West End, its premiere was seen at the provincial Coventry Theatre, a locale which typified Wesker's political views as an ' angry young man'. Wesker's play ''

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

'' (1959) was a

kitchen sink drama Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose protagonists usually could be described as "angry young men" w ...

about a girl, Beatie Bryant, who returns after three years of stay in London to her farming family home at Norfolk and struggles to voice herself. Critics commended the "emotional authenticity" brought out in the play. ''Roots'', ''The Kitchen'', and ''Their Very Own and Golden City'' were staged by the English Stage Company at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...

under the management of

George Devine George Alexander Cassady Devine (20 November 1910 – 20 January 1966) was an English theatrical manager, director, teacher, and actor based in London from the early 1930s until his death. He also worked in TV and film. Early life and education ...

and later William Gaskill.

Nuclear disarmament

Wesker joined with enthusiasm the Royal Court group on the

Aldermaston March The Aldermaston marches were anti- nuclear weapons demonstrations in the 1950s and 1960s, taking place on Easter weekend between the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire, England, and London, over a distance of fifty- ...

in 1959. Another of the Royal Court contingent,

Lindsay Anderson Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading-light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered for ...

, made a short documentary film (''March to Aldermaston'') about the event. He was an active member of the Committee of 100 and, with other prominent members, was jailed in 1961 for his part in its campaign of mass nonviolent resistance to nuclear weapons.

Centre 42

After his stay in prison in 1961, Wesker made a full-time commitment to become the leader of an initiative which arose from Resolution 42 of the 1960

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

, concerning the importance of arts in the community. Centre 42 was initially a touring festival aimed at devolving art and culture from London to the other main working class towns of Britain, moving to the Roundhouse in 1964. The project to establish a permanent arts centre struggled through subsequent years, because its funding was limited; Wesker fictionalised it in his play ''Their Very Own and Golden City'' (1966). He formally dissolved the project in 1970, although The Roundhouse did eventually open as a permanent arts centre in 2006.

Writers & Readers Publishing Cooperative

Wesker co-founded, in 1974, the Writers & Readers Publishing Cooperative Ltd, with a group of writers that included

John Berger John Peter Berger (; 5 November 1926 – 2 January 2017) was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel '' G.'' won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism '' Ways of Seeing'', written as an accompaniment to the ...

, Lisa Appignanesi,

Richard Appignanesi Richard Appignanesi (born December 20, 1940) is a Canadian writer and editor. He was the originating editor of the internationally successful illustrated '' For Beginners'' book series (since 1991 called the '' Introducing...'' series), as well ...

, Chris Searle and Glenn Thompson.

Later works

''The Journalists'' (1972) was commissioned by the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

and researched at ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' at a time it when was edited by Harold Evans. The RSC's literary manager Ronald Bryden thought it would be "the play of the decade" and it was scheduled to be directed by David Jones. The actors in that year's RSC company refused to perform it, Wesker claimed, because they were under the influence of the Workers Revolutionary Party. (The WRP was not founded until 1973, but its forerunner, the Socialist Labour League had many sympathisers in the RSC.) Wesker wrote in 2004 that he had also "committed the politically incorrect crime of creating Tory ministers who were intelligent rather than caricatures". Wesker's play '' The Merchant'' (1976), which he later renamed ''

Shylock Shylock is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play ''The Merchant of Venice'' (c. 1600). A Venetian Jewish moneylender, Shylock is the play's principal antagonist. His defeat and conversion to Christianity form the climax of the ...

'', uses the same three stories used by Shakespeare for his play ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

''. In this retelling, Shylock and Antonio are fast friends bound by a common love of books, culture and a disdain for the crass antisemitism of the Christian community's laws. They make the bond in defiant mockery of the Christian establishment, never anticipating that the bond might become forfeit. When it does, the play argues, Shylock must carry through on the letter of the law or jeopardize the scant legal security of the entire Jewish community. He is, therefore, quite as grateful as Antonio when Portia, as in Shakespeare's play, shows the legal way out. The play received its American premiere on 16 November 1977 at New York's Plymouth Theatre with Joseph Leon as Shylock,

Marian Seldes Marian Hall Seldes (August 23, 1928 – October 6, 2014) was an American actress. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for '' A Delicate Balance'' in 1967, and received subsequent nomination ...

as Shylock's sister Rivka and

Roberta Maxwell Roberta Farnham Maxwell (born June 17, 1941) is a Canadian stage, film, and television actress. Biography Maxwell began studying for the stage in her early teens. She joined John Clark for two years as the child co-host of his '' Junior Magaz ...

as Portia. This production had a challenging history in previews on the road, culminating (after the first night out of town in Philadelphia on 8 September 1977) with the death of the exuberant Broadway star

Zero Mostel Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel (February 28, 1915 – September 8, 1977) was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He is best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in ''Fiddler on the Roof'', Pseudolus on stage and on ...

, who was initially cast as Shylock. Wesker wrote a book, ''The Birth of Shylock and the Death of Zero Mostel'', chronicling the entire process from initial submissions and rejections of the play through to rehearsals, Zero's death, and the disappointment of the critical reception for the Broadway opening. The book reveals much about the playwright's relationship to director John Dexter (who had been the earliest, near-familial interpreter of Wesker's works), to criticism, to casting, and to the ephemeral process of collaboration through which the text of any play must pass. In 2005, he published his first novel, ''Honey'', which recounted the experiences of Beatie Bryant, the heroine of his earlier play ''Roots''. The novel broke from the previously established chronology. ''Roots'' was set in the early 1960s and Beatie is 22; but in ''Honey'' she has only aged three years yet the action has been transplanted into the 1980s. Other oddities are that the timeframe includes the

Rushdie affair The ''Satanic Verses'' controversy, also known as the Rushdie Affair, was a controversy sparked by the 1988 publication of Salman Rushdie's novel '' The Satanic Verses''. It centered on the novel's references to the Satanic Verses of the Qu ...

and

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Hunting ...

's fall as recent events and yet the action is concerned with the

dotcom boom The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

. In 2008, Wesker published his first collection of poetry, ''All Things Tire of Themselves'' (Flambard Press). The collection dates back many years and represents what he considered his best and most characteristic poems. He was a member of the editorial advisory board of '' Jewish Renaissance'' magazine. He was a patron of the

Shakespeare Schools Festival Please note: Shakespeare Schools Festival became Shakespeare Schools Foundation in 2016. The Festival is the charity's flagship project. The Shakespeare Schools Festival is the world's largest youth drama festival. Schools who participate perfor ...

, a charity that enables school children across the UK to perform Shakespeare in professional theatres. He was the castaway on ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...

'',

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

, on in 1966 and again in 2006.

Personal life

Wesker married Doreen Bicker in 1958. The character Beatie, in the so-called "Wesker trilogy" of plays, was inspired by Doreen, a chambermaid at The Bell Hotel, Norwich, where Wesker was working as a kitchen porter. He gave her the nickname of "Dusty", because of her "gold-dust" hair; an Arts Council bursary of £500 covered the cost of their marriage. The couple had three children Lindsay, Tanya and Daniel. Lindsay was named after director

. Tanya died in 2012. Wesker also had another daughter Elsa, with Swedish journalist, Disa Håstad. He was grandfather to Swedish rapper

Yung Lean Yung may refer to: * Yung (surname), Chinese surname * Yung Joc, (born Jasiel Robinson in 1983), an American rapper * Yung Wun, (born James Carlton Anderson in 1982), an American rapper * Yung Berg, (born Christian Ward in 1985), an American rappe ...

. Wesker died on 12 April 2016. He was suffering from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms beco ...

Awards and honours

Wesker received numerous awards throughout his career. In 1958 he received grant of 300 for the play ''Chicken Soup'' from the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council ( ...

. He used the money to marry Bicker. The following year he won the ''Evening Standard'' Theatre Award in the "Most Promising Playwright" category. He was presented with the Italian Marzotto Prize (a cash award of £3000) in 1964 for ''Their Very Own and Golden City'', and the Spanish Best Foreign Play Award in 1979. He became a fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, ele ...

in 1985 and was presented with the Goldie Award in 1987. For his "distinguished service to theatre" he was honoured with the Last Frontier Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...

in the

2006 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2006 in some Commonwealth realms were announced (on 31 December 2005) in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Grenada, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, and Saint Christopher and Nevis to c ...

. In December 2021 a plaque in Wesker's memory was installed at his former primary school, Northwold Road, Hackney, London, by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation

Works

The following list is drawn from Arnold Wesker's official website. ; Plays *''

'', 1957 *'' Chicken Soup with Barley'', 1958 *''

'', 1959 *''I'm Talking about Jerusalem'', 1960 *''Menace'', 1961 (for television) *''

Chips with Everything ''Chips with Everything'' is a 1962 play by Arnold Wesker. The play shows class attitudes at the time by examining the life of a corporal. Productions ''Chips with Everything'' premiered in the West End at the Royal Court Theatre on 27 April 1 ...

'', 1962 *''The Nottingham Captain'', 1962 *''Four Seasons'', 1965 *''Their Very Own and Golden City'', 1966 *'' The Friends'', 1970 *''The Old Ones'', 1970 *''The Journalists'', 1972 *''The Wedding Feast'', 1974 *'' The Merchant'', 1976 *''Love Letters on Blue Paper'', 1976 *''One More Ride On The Merry-Go-Round'', 1978 *''Phoenix'', 1980 *''Caritas'', 1980 *''Voices on the Wind'', 1980 *''Breakfast'', 1981 *''Sullied Hand'', 1981 *''Four Portraits – Of Mothers'', 1982 *''Annie Wobbler'', 1982 *''Yardsale'', 1983 *''Cinders'', 1983 *''Whatever Happened to Betty Lemon?'', 1986 *''When God Wanted a Son'', 1986 *''Lady Othello'', 1987 *''Little Old Lady & Shoeshine'', 1987 *''Badenheim 1939'', 1987 *''Shoeshine'', 1987 *''The Mistress'', 1988 *''Beorhtel's Hill'', 1988 (community play for

Basildon Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159. It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...

) *''Men Die Women Survive'', 1990 *''Letter To A Daughter'', 1990 *''Blood Libel'', 1991 *''Wild Spring'', 1992 *''Bluey'', 1993 *''The Confession'', 1993 *''Circles of Perception'', 1996 *''Break, My Heart'', 1997 *''Denial'', 1997 *''Barabbas'', 2000 *''The Kitchen Musical'', 2000 *''Groupie'', 2001 *''Longitude'', 2002 *''The Rocking Horse'', 2008 (commissioned by the BBC World Service) *''Joy and Tyranny'', 2011 ; Fiction *''Six Sundays in January'', Jonathan Cape, 1971 *''Love Letters on Blue Paper'', Jonathan Cape, 1974 *''Said the Old Man to the Young Man'', Jonathan Cape, 1978 *''Fatlips'', Writers and Readers Harper & Row, 1978 *''The King's Daughters'', Quartet Books, 1998 *''Honey'', Pocket Books, 2006 ; Non-fiction *''Distinctions'', 1985 (collection of essays) *''Fears of Fragmentation'', Jonathan Cape, 1971 *''Say Goodbye You May Never See Them Again'', Jonathan Cape, 1974 *''Journey Into Journalism'', Writers & Readers, 1977 *''The Dusty Wesker Cook Book'', Chatto & Windus, 1987 *''As Much as I Dare'', Century Random House, 1994 (Autobiography) *''The Birth of Shylock and the Death of Zero Mostel'', Quartet Books, 1997 *''Wesker On Theatre'', 2010 (collection of essays) *''Ambivalences'', Oberon Books, 2011

Notes

References

External links

*
Arnold Wesker Papers
at the

*
"Arnold's Choice"
Interview with Arnold Wesker, by

Kirsty Young Kirsty Jackson Young (born 23 November 1968) is a Scottish television and radio presenter. From 2006 to 2018 she was the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's '' Desert Island Discs''. She presented ''Crimewatch'' on BBC One from 2008 to 2015. Ear ...

. ''

''. Broadcast on ''

'', 17 December 2006; repeated 22 December 2006.
Interview with Arnold Wesker
– British Library sound recording
"Sir Arnold Wesker, British playwright, dies aged 83"
BBC News, 13 April 2016 *Chris, Moncrieff
"Obituary: Sir Arnold Wesker, playwright"
''The Scotsman'', 13 April 2016 *Archival material at
"ir Arnold Wesker"

The Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wesker, Arnold 1932 births 2016 deaths 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights English male dramatists and playwrights Jewish dramatists and playwrights Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Knights Bachelor People educated at University College School People from Stepney English Jews People with Parkinson's disease 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers Alumni of the London Film School