The second play in Arnold Wesker’s trilogy,
Roots, was written in about three months in 1958. It was first produced at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, on 25 May 1959, which was at this time and through the 1960s one of the most innovative municipal repertory venues in the United Kingdom.
Rootshelped to define the modes of what soon became known as “kitchen-sink drama”, plays which represented lower-class life in a deliberate critique of the representations of mannered middle-class life which constituted the norm of British theatre from the 1880s to the late 1950s. In common with
Chicken Soup with Barley, the first play in the trilogy, it was directed by John Dexter and designed by Jocelyn Herbert. The play then transferred to the Royal Court Theatre in London on 30 June 1959, a…
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Citation: Baker, William. "Roots". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 May 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2320, accessed 22 November 2024.]
