IT’S 1950s London and in the kitchen of an enormous West End restaurant, the orders are piling up – a post-war feast of soup, fish, cutlets, omelettes and fruit flans. This is Arnold Wesker’s play The Kitchen, which is being screened live from the National Theatre at the Plaza Cinema in Dorchester and Bridport’s Electric Palace.

In this high-octane piece of theatre, chefs, waitresses and porters from across Europe are thrown together as they argue and flirt and race to keep up with a deluge of food orders.

Peter, a high-spirited young cook, seems to thrive on the pressure. In between preparing dishes, he manages to strike up an affair with married waitress Monique, the whole time dreaming of a better life.

But in the all-consuming clamour of the kitchen, nothing is far from the brink of collapse.

The Kitchen premiered at the Royal Court in 1959 and has since been performed in more than 30 countries.

Catch the play at the Plaza in Trinity Street, Dorchester tomorrow at 7pm and on October 13 at 6.45pm. Call 01305 262488 for more details.

The Electric Palace will be screening The Kitchen on Monday, October 10.

Doors open at 6pm and the performance starts at 7pm. Tickets are £12.50 each and are available from Bridport TIC on 01308 424901.

The Plaza is also screening the Bolshoi Ballet’s performance of Esmerelda on October 9.

This is a sumptuous ballet in 3 acts and 5 scenes, based on the Victor Hugo story of Notre Dame de Paris, made famous on film as the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The Poet Gringoire, sentenced to be hanged, is saved by beautiful Esmeralda who agrees to marry him. Archdeacon Frollo, torn between his love for God and his obsession with the gypsy girl, sends his henchman Quasimodo to capture her.

Esmeralda is rescued by Phoebus, the captain of the guard, who gives her his scarf as a souvenir. Later, alone, Esmeralda, starts dreaming about the handsome captain… The performance is at 3.45pm and doors open at 3.15pm.