Chicken Soup with Barley

Summary: 1966 BBC Television production of Chicken Soup with Barley by Arnold Wesker. This play is the first part in The Wesker Trilogy.
Theatre play: Chicken Soup with Barley (The Wesker Trilogy 1) by Arnold Wesker (1932-) [more information]
Play synopsis: 'The play is about the Jewish Kahn family living in 1936 in London, and traces the downfall of their ideals in a changing world, parallel to the disintegration of the family, until 1956. The protagonists are the parents, Sarah and Harry, and their children, Ada, and Ronnie. They are Jewish Communists, and Wesker explores how they struggle to maintain their convictions in the face of World War II, Stalinism, or the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Sarah is an adamant Socialist; she is strong, family-minded, honest though bossy; Harry, her husband, is weak, a liar, not at all manly and lacks conviction; Ada is extremely passionate about what she believes in, especially Marxism, and, like the others, is also romantic both personally and politically; and finally Ronnie is a youthful idealist and just as romantic as Ada.' Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Soup_with_Barley.
Production history: First performed on stage in 1958 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, where Wesker’s two other plays of that trilogy - Roots and I’m Talking About Jerusalem - also premiered.
Date of transmission: Sunday 23 January 1966
Time: 8.00pm
Series: Theatre 625
Channel: BBC2
Production company: BBC

Director

Charles Jarrott

Producer

Cedric Messina

Lighting

Ken MacGregor

Playwright

Arnold Wesker (1932-)

Adaptor of Script

James Brabazon (1923-2007) (credited as ‘Story Editor’)

Composer

Designer

Costumes

Make-up

Cast

Title: Chicken Soup with Barley (BBC, 1966)
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