Undoing socialism and the family, Dominic Cooke's production of Arnold Wesker's Chicken Soup with Barley is almost flawless.
At the core of Chicken Soup with Barley is a family held together by their communist ideology and when the flaws in their belief begin to show, they lose faith and all but disintegrate. Wesker's script, first performed in 1958, peels away the layers of the Kahn family to reveal a very shaky core based on some beautifully human flaws. Actors Samantha Spiro, Danny Webb and Tom Rosenthal as the mother, father and son, highlight the timelessness of a script that might otherwise struggle to be relevant to a contemporary audience.
Proactive and indomitable, Sarah is married to lazy Harry who talks about what he believes but makes no effort to embody it. Their daughter Ada is soon caught up in her parents' way of thinking and they credit her commitment to their own good influence: “We didn't force her to be in the pioneers. Wasn't necessary”, says Harry, proud that showing his children socialism has guided them in life.
His philosophy soon falls apart at the seams as his once vocal son, Ronnie, leaves the family only to return home a shadow of his former self. Rosenthal's performance in his final confrontation with his mother is completely absorbing. Ronnie is heartbroken that the truths of his childhood have failed him and life seems unbearably bleak. It's a stark contrast to his hopeful, slightly arrogant younger self.
His parents' constant battles put their hypocrisy centre stage. Sarah nags Harry endlessly and he stubbornly ignores her. In this relationship Wesker dissects a marriage and highlights the position of women of the era, but he doesn't make it easy for his audience. Under Dominic Cooke's superb direction, Webb and Spiro make a bitter old couple who lean heavily on their façade. Rosenthal and Jenna Augen, who plays Ronnie's sister Ada, make eloquent, enthusiastic youngsters finding themselves while learning from their parents mistake. But most memorable is the feeling of betrayal so evident in both of them. Neither of them blame their parents exactly, but both find it difficult to understand how things could ever have been so black and white.
It's unusual for Royal Court Theatre to stage a revival, so Chicken Soup with Barely is a bit of an anomaly in their programme and it couldn't be more different from The Acid Test showing upstairs. But you can see why they've chosen it. We don't need to wait for a time of upheaval, revolution or protests because these never stop anyway. Family dynamics on the other hand, have changed and it's now uncommon for parenting to be based on such organised ideologies caught up in their own nomenclature. A perfectly paced production, Chicken Soup with Barley is a re-examination of what drives us and its many interpretations.
Chicken Soup with Barley runs at Royal Court Theatre until 16th July.
Image: Johan Persson
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