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# Review: The Dishwashers @ Birmingham Rep
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/review-the-dishwashers-birmingham-rep/
- Published: 2014-02-06T09:46:48.000Z
- Updated: 2014-02-06T09:46:48.000Z
- Author: Phil Preece
- Tags: Reviews, What's On, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 20:48

It’s quite a wrench on a stormy night leaving the warm telly to see live productions but we theatre lovers are a hardy breed. So I braved the elements and went along to the first night of the Rep’s new play The Dishwashers starring David Essex, and am I glad I did.

In the bowels of a glamorous restaurant three men do the washing up. They do not create the sumptuous dishes served high above them nor serve them to the pampered customers – they just wash the plates. Moss (the marvellously aged Andrew Jarvis ) is so old he can remember no other life, Emmett, (the impassioned Rik Makarem) comes to be broken in as a new hand, while Dressler, subtly underplayed by David Essex, has seen his youth slip away while dishwashing, yet is philosophical. A job, after all, is a job. “Life gives us a dirty plate,” he says, “and we have to clean it.”

The action of the play is deceptively simple. Young Emmett has come down in the world – he was once a rich customer in this same restaurant who gave no thought to the servant/master aspects of fine dining. But as a skivvy he becomes politicised and wants a full-on strike, or at a least a paper towel dispenser that actually works. Without giving away a twist that makes this play truly great I can’t say any more except that it has a pedigree which links it to the greatest of all dramas. Waiting For Godot, and more surprisingly Dr. Faustus spring to mind, but it wears its lineage lightly; there is plenty of laughter too.

This UK premiere of The Dishwashers showcases a modern masterpiece, played here to deeply moving effect. I say don’t miss it.

The Dishwashers runs until February 15\. For tickets go visit [birmingham-rep.co.uk](http://birmingham-rep.co.uk/?ref=lichfieldlive.co.uk) or phone the box office on 0121 236 4455.