Wesker, Sir Arnold

Wesker, Sir Arnold (1932- ), British playwright. Wesker was born in the East End of London to a Yiddish-speaking family. After leaving college he had a number of jobs, ranging from plumber's mate to pastry-cook. The latter was the inspiration for the first of his stark, naturalistic plays, The Kitchen, written in 1957 and performed in 1960. By then his trilogy about the political evolution of a Jewish family living in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s had been produced and brought him much acclaim: Chicken Soup with Barley (1958), Roots (1959), and I'm Talking about Jerusalem (1960). Then followed a play which examined social structures in the Royal Air Force, Chips with Everything (1962). Wesker was not solely interested in writing realistic theatre; his dramatic vocation burned alongside socialist ideals. With others, he founded Centre 42 (1961-1971), a group sponsored by the trade unions committed to making culture available to industrial workers. During the same period he spent a month in prison when arrested at a nuclear disarmament rally. Wesker has continued to challenge audiences with his ideas and later plays have included The Wedding Feast (1974), The Journalists (1980), Caritas (1981), and Whatever Happened to Betty Lemon? (1986). Denial, about false memory syndrome, premiered at the Bristol Old Vic in 2000, while his stage adaptation of Dava Sobel’s bestselling novel Longitude was first staged in 2005. He has also written the novel Honey (2005), revisiting the character Beatie Bryant from his earlier play Roots. His autobiography, As Much As I Dare, was published in 1994. He received a knighthood in 2006.