The Kitchen

this is london“Looking good gets a play only so far...” Wesker presents us with a fascinating microcosm of the melting-pot of post-war London but we long for greater character development and more extensive backstories...

Guardian“Wesker increasingly works against the grain of the text...” For anyone unfamiliar with the play, it will doubtless be an overpowering experience. But I can't help feeling that Wesker's metaphor for the dehumanising impact of industrialised labour has been turned into a celebration of synchronised movement...

Time Out“A doleful and authentic portion of working-class life is spiced up...” One of the National's great strengths is its ensemble work; another is the scope for design and 'The Kitchen' makes great use of both. Giles Cadle's set, with its roaring gas burners and beautifully choreographed panic, is superb...

The Independent“A revival that jumps from frying pan to fire...” The Kitchen, the first British play to celebrate work, is a masterpiece of construction, and Bijan Sheibani's production orchestrates it magnificently...

Financial Times“The director and set and sound designers work unobtrusive miracles...” For the most part, Wesker's human politics - the "social" root to what, for him, "-ism" is simply a consequent suffix - are unobtrusive yet palpable. They're the shizzle, in fact...

Whatsonstage.com“Extraordinary play...” The Kitchen puts the workplace centre stage in a blackly funny and furious examination of life lived at breakneck speed, when work threatens to define who we are...