Redenhall
Redenhall is a small village which lies in the
Waveney Valley just north-east of
Harleston.
In 1950 Arnold Wesker moved to Norfolk to stay with
his sister Della and her husband who lived at Long
Stratton. During this time he got a job as a kitchen
porter at the Bell Hotel on Timber Hill in Norwich and
met his future wife - Dusty Bicker. Dusty's parents
lived at Beck Farm in Redenhall and his visits to the
farmhouse provided the inspiration for Roots -
the second play in his trilogy. (The others being
Chicken Soup With Barley and I'm Talking About
Jerusalem.)
Arnold Wesker
Here is how the farm is described in the play's stage
directions:
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'A rather ramshackle house in Norfolk where there is no
water laid on, nor electricity, nor gas. Everything
rambles and the furniture is cheap and old. If it is
untidy it is because there is a child in the house and
there are few amenities, so that the mother is too
overworked to take much care.' |
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Beatie Bryant (modelled on Dusty) is the main
character in Roots and has recently returned to
Norfolk after living in London. She is a spirited and
angry young woman and confronts her family's prejudices
and parochialism.
The play also attempts to capture the Norfolk accent
and at the start Wesker provides an interesting note
about pronunciation. This is how it begins:
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'This is a play about Norfolk people; it could be a play
about any country people and the moral could certainly
extend to the metropolis. But as it is about Norfolk
people it is important that some attempt is made to find
out how they talk. A very definite accent and intonation
exists and personal experience suggests that this is not
difficult to know.' |
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Roots was successfully staged in 1959 in
Coventry (after being turned down by the Royal Court
theatre in London). It helped to establish Wesker as
part of the up-coming generation of 'kitchen sink'
dramatists who turned the spotlight on the lives of
ordinary working people. He also managed to capture the
Norfolk dialect in the play - a notoriously difficult
thing to do - but it proved difficult for the cast to
master.
The play is very much centred around Beatie and her
family and grounded in its Norfolk setting.
See also Norwich.
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Links:
More photographs of Redenhall
Arnold Wesker
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Supported
by Norfolk Tourism