ABSTRACT
In drama, dining scenes proliferate, bringing communities of characters together in convincing opportunities for social interchange (and their almost inevitable disruption). As a ritualized event, the meal-time is a significant resource for the theatre-maker. However, feeding scenes are notable for their sparsity. A wariness of food's disruptive potential has meant that it has been 'disappeared' through containment, tokenism, even banishment. In Arnold Wesker's The Kitchen, a production note asserts that the preparation and cooking of the array of dishes are mimed, indeed 'it must be understood that at no point is food ever used' as 'to cook and serve the food is of course just not practical' (1990[1960]:10).
