British playwright Arnold Wesker — author of “I’m Talking About Jerusalem” and “The Journalists” — has died at 83. Benjamin Ivry pays tribute to his humanism and his complicated relationship with Israel.
British playwright Arnold Wesker, who turned 79 on May 24, is enjoying a revival of interest in his writings. “Chicken Soup with Barley,” the first play in his 1950s partly-autobiographical trilogy (the others are “Roots” and “I’m Talking About Jerusalem”) ran from June 2 to July 16 at London’s Royal Court Theatre, where it was first staged in 1958, and on September 7, London’s National Theatre opened a production of Wesker’s most internationally celebrated play, “The Kitchen,” based on his own youthful experiences working in hellish restaurants.