One of the foremost playwrights of his generation, Arnold Wesker was considered something of an outsider in England, an assertion made by critics Ronald Bryden in 1966 and Michael Billington in 2000. Wesker was never where the audience, or the Establishment, expected him to be. He was not an agent provocateur, but a writer for whom words should be bridges, meant to prompt action. Acclaimed for his first five plays, his trademark experimentation with style created some resistance from critics and public alike. He wrote 44 plays, as well as short stories, film and television scripts, poetry, a novel, and the essays collected in
Fears of Fragmentation, which describe his vision of Centre 42,
Distinctionsand
Wesker on Theatre. However, only two of his plays (
Caritas, 1980, and
Love3314 words
Citation: Etienne, Anne. "Arnold Wesker". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 December 2004; last revised 17 January 2022. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4663, accessed 27 July 2024.]
