On 9 October the Royal Court Theatre will host a celebration of the life and work of Arnold Wesker.
Known as one of the Angry Young Men, a group of writers who revolutionised British theatre in the late 1950s and 1960s with their style of writing, many of his plays were first performed at the Royal Court.
Although Wesker was also a published poet, essayist and novelist, sometime musician and artist and always a keen activist and polemicist, he will be primarily remembered as a playwright.
His plays include Chicken Soup with Barley, I'm Talking About Jerusalem, The Kitchen, Roots and Chips with Everything.
He continued to write until Parkinson’s disease rendered him unable to do so, and many of his lesser-known plays go unproduced.
Wesker was born in 1932 into a Jewish Communist family; he lived in London's East End and was evacuated during the war.
He trained as a chef initially but found his metier writing autobiographical pieces including about his National Service experiences and his family.
He was knighted in 2006.
Former Royal Court artistic director Dominic Cooke will host the tribute event which takes the form of four parts: Wesker at the Court, Wesker the playwright, The Other Weskers and Roots.
Friends and collaborators of Wesker will be amongst those taking part in the Royal Court tribute together with actors who have appeared in his plays, their directors other theatre makers.
These include Mike Leigh, the actors Samantha Spiro, who played matriarch Sarah Kahn in Cooke's 2011 revival of Chicken Soup with Barley, Janie Dee who directed a musical work based on The Kitchen, Frank Barrie and Jessica Raine, playwrights David Edgar and Bernard Kops, composer/musician Ben Till and designer/director Pamela Howard.
Tickets to the event are free but must be booked in advance.
The event has been organised by Wesker's widow, Dusty Wesker, with David Edgar, Pamela Howard and Anne Mayer and with assistance from the Royal Court Theatre.
Wesker Celebration will take place at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 9 October at 3PM. After the event, the bar downstairs will be open with a pay bar.