Wesker's Comedies

Arnold Wesker

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781849431286
• eBook ISBN: 9781849437073
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

In The Wedding Feast an idealistic, altruistic shoe manufacturer arrives at an employee's wedding, with disastrous consequences. One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round features a comic plot involving academics who get high on a hash birthday cake, a recalcitrant daughter, and the appearance of an illegitimate son who is a magician. In Groupie 61-year-old Mattie Beancourt is shocked to discover her idol, the famous painter Mark Gorman, living alone in near poverty. She is sunny, he is curmudgeonly and the impact of their friendship is startling. Set against a scene of defiant old age, The Old Ones examines the eccentric rituals of old age and plays out the conflict between the optimistic and pessimistic spirit.

THE WEDDING FEAST

a play in two acts and a prologue

freely adapted from a short story called

An Unpleasant Predicament

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

For Nikki and Bob Gavron

With love and gratitude

The Wedding Feast received its world premiere at the Stadsteater, Stockholm, on the 8th May 1974, directed by Gun Arvidsson.

It received its British première, greatly revised, at the Leeds Playhouse on 20th January 1977, directed by John Harrison and Michael Attenborough.

A second UK production was mounted at the Birmingham Rep on the 5th June 1980, directed by Peter Farago, when further cuts and revisions were made.

The play was directed by the author at the University of Denison, Ohio, in November 1995. During rehearsal further changes were made and are incorporated in the following script.

Characters

LOUIS LITVANOV, a shoe manufacturer

KATE WHITE, his secretary

DAVID LOWERY, his manager

MR HAMMOND, managing director of a chain of shoe shops

KNOCKER WHITE, Kate’s brother, a shoe operative

TOSH WHITE, their uncle, a shoe operative

EMILY WHITE, Tosh’s wife

TINKER WHITE, their son, regular in the army

DAPHNE DAWSON, Knocker’s bride, a shoe operative

MR DAWSON, her father, a shoe operative

MRS DAWSON, her mother

MAUREEN DAWSON, her sister, a shoe operative

MARTIN DAWSON, her brother, a building worker

RINGO RAY, Martin’s friend, a shoe operative

STEPHEN BULLOCK, Kate’s friend, a journalist

BONKY HARRIS, a shoe operative

(MR HAMMOND and MR DAWSON can be played by the same actor)

Setting

There are four small sets for the Prologue to suggest:

LOUIS’ lounge,

LOUIS’ bathroom,

LOUIS’ office,

streets of Norwich.

All could involve the use of a screen with projected slides and/or film, though this is not essential. There is one main set for Acts One and Two: interior of the WHITES’ house for the wedding.

Prologue

SCENE ONE

An ominous rhythmic factory sound grows out of the darkness, builds to a crescendo, abruptly stops as the lights snap on.

Lounge of a large country mansion in the outskirts of Norwich in Norfolk. Four people, three men and a woman.

A drinks trolley, four chairs around a small table. Late evening.

Behind, a huge screen.

The host, LOUIS LITVANOV, is serving and chatting with his guests: MR HAMMOND, KATE WHITE, DAVID LOWERY.

LOUIS: And why do you think I make my office of glass?

Light on – STEPHEN BULLOCK. In the PROLOGUE he has the function of narrator.

STEPHEN: I have a story…

LOUIS: To be seen working!

STEPHEN: An uncomfortable story.

LOUIS: And why do you think that office is on the shop floor?

STEPHEN: But first –

LOUIS: To discuss business –

STEPHEN: – the setting –

LOUIS: – where work is done!

STEPHEN: – the background –

LOUIS: Noise! Activity!

STEPHEN: – get them out of the way –

LOUIS: I’m a worker! I work hard!

STEPHEN: – allow the story to unfold –

LOUIS: My operatives see me work hard. They respect me.

STEPHEN: It occurred, this uncomfortable story, about the time our elected representatives decided bravely that we should take our fortunes into the European Common Market. A courageous time when our cool captains of industry streamlined their factories, sacked superfluous labour, and struggled firmly to calm the industrial unrest which followed. A time of optimism and regeneration owing much to men of high commercial idealism. We think, ourselves, that such men have been a little unjustly castigated for the harsh measures they were forced to take: prosperity, after all, has its price and in the beginning must always take a sad toll of victims. Or must it?

LOUIS: When the men get there at eight in the morning who do they see? The night-watchman? No! Me! The first to arrive, the last to go. And they respect me.

STEPHEN: And so you see, not every businessman was ruthless when faced with the challenge of streamlining for entry-into-Europe-day. This tale adjusts the balance, a little at least. And if for the moment capital has failed to find a modus vivendi with labour, well – it will not have been, as we’ll show, for the want of trying. However, before the main story – the preamble, a filling-in, a few – vivid brush strokes.

DAVID: Mr Litvanov –

STEPHEN: – is our central character.

DAVID: – I don’t think you’re being very honest.

STEPHEN: Honest, in the formal sense of the word, that is.

LOUIS: Not honest? Have y...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• The Wedding Feast
• One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round
• Groupie
• The Old Ones