Young Arnold Wesker's 1957 play was ground-breaking in its day. The ambitious writer, for starters, put 30 people on the stage, swirling them around like currants in a cake mix.
He was, also, the first to depict the world of work in its soul-crushing mundanity and intensity.
Whether the play stands the test of time is an argument slipping from its grasp but there's no dispute the National Theatre's revival has thrown every trick and curlicue at this rich feast of a production.
Director Bijan Sheibani calls on the services of movement director Aline David to co-ordinate the cast and they swell, heave, sway and stop to amplify and enchance the short, snappy dialogue.
At times this is a ballet in a circus, with the cook-clowns thrashing, stabbing, stirring and slicing in cacophonous unison while waitresses parade in teetering heels.
In that unwritten, fractured manner of work conversation, the (mostly immigrant) staff conduct their disputes and liaisons in shorthand in the tiny lulls between service.
The highlight (and worth the money on its own) is undoubtedly the rousing run-up to lunch services when orders are hurled, cooked and returned in an escalating cavalcade of barked orders, retorts, clashing pans and - at the extreme - flying waitresses.
Here Giles Cadle's stunning set comes into its own as gas jets, stress and steel all create a mechanical timpani. This is Oliver's Food, Glorious Food sequence on a sugar rush.
There are too many of them - cooks, porters, waitresses, management - for individuals truly to become real but the actors make the best of their interjections as they share snippets to create a mosaic of thwarted dreams.
German fish cook Peter (an angular Tom Brooke like a jerked string puppet) is the most fully realised of the vignettes, the mix of his love for married waitress Monique (Katie Lyons) and his anguished impotence curdling to foment a monstrous breakdown.
However, we also get tantalising glimpses of the life, loves and endurance of butcher Max (Ian Burfield), griller Gaston (Stavros Demetraki) and pastry chef Paul (Samuel Roukin).
Ultimately the play suffers from its dated outlook and lack of lasting novelty but there's no doubting this is a spirited, authentic, technical, precise and, at times, breathtaking production.
– From September 2011
