Roots

by Arnold Wesker

Overview

It's 1958. Beatie Bryant has been to London and fallen in love with Ronnie, a young socialist. As she anxiously awaits his arrival to meet her family at their Norfolk farm, her head is swimming with new ideas. Ideas of a bolder, freer world which promise to clash with their rural way of life.

Roots is the remarkable centrepiece of Wesker's seminal post-war trilogy. It was first performed in 1959 at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, before transferring to the Royal Court. It is the second play in a trilogy comprising Chicken Soup with Barley and I'm Talking About Jerusalem. It went on to transfer to the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End.

A true classic, Roots is an affecting portrait of a young woman finding her voice at a time of unprecedented social change.

This Modern Classic edition features an introduction by Glenda Leeming.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472574619
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	05/21/2015
Series:	Modern Classics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	88
File size:	232 KB

About the Author

Arnold Wesker (b. 1932) is one of Britain's seminal post-war playwrights. His varied writings include essays, short stories, poetry, journalism and 49 plays, which have been translated into 18 languages. His plays include The Kitchen (1957), Roots (1958), Chips with Everything (1962), Shylock (1976), and Honey (2005). He holds honorary doctorates from the University of East Anglia, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London, and Denison University in Ohio and was knighted in the 2006 New Year's Honours list.
Arnold Wesker F.R.S.L was knighted in 2006 for ‘services to drama’. He has written over forty-three plays, two opera libretti, various mechanical adaptations; four volumes of short stories, a children’s book, and a novel; two volumes of essays, an autobiography, a diary,and a book on journalism; and recently his first volume of poetry. His plays have been produced in cities from Rio de Janeiro to Tokyo, from Paris to Moscow, from Montreal to Zurich, and The Kitchen – his most performed play has been performed yearly somewhere or other around the world for the last fifty years, and recently was revived by The National Theatre in 2011. Arnold Wesker was the recently featured in the Guardian ahead of revivals of his plays Chicken Soup With Barley (The Royal Court) and The Kitchen (The National Theatre): Guardian interview | Arnold Wesker

Editorial Reviews

Roots . . . is a beautiful, rich and at times infuriating piece that has a strong claim to being Arnold Wesker's greatest dramatic achievement” —Telegraph

From the Publisher

Roots . . . is a beautiful, rich and at times infuriating piece that has a strong claim to being Arnold Wesker's greatest dramatic achievement

Telegraph

Wesker ranks among the seminal figures in British theatre history. With John Osborne and Harold Pinter, he was one of the Angry Young Men who, from the stage of the Royal Court, led the revolution against the vacuity of drawing room theatre with a more visceral, working-class model. The Wesker trilogy, long a staple of the school syllabus, has sold more than 500,000 copies, propelling it into modern theatre's top-10 bestseller list.

Guardian