Shelagh Delaney

Presents the text of a play centering on the private life of an adolescent working-class girl faced with complex emotional problems

A Play

A Taste of Honey

A Taste of Honey tells the story of a working-class adolescent girl and her various relationships: the black sailor who gets her pregnant; the homosexual art student who moves into her apartment to help her through the pregnancy; her fun-loving and saloon-frequenting mother; and Peter, her mothers newly acquired husband.

Trever

I read this because Wikipedia said Delaney was on the cover of the "Girlfriend in a Coma" single and Morrisey claimed she was a big inspiration for him. I guess I can see how the characters' manners of speech reflect Moz's lyrical style, certainly it does moreso than Wilde, but the topic matter is a bit different. The drama wasn't really there but as a character study and work of realism it's a good first play.

A Taste of Honey became a sensational theatrical success when first produced in London by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in 1958. Now established as a modern classic, this comic and poignant play, by a then nineteen-year-old working-class Lancashire girl, was praised at its London premiere by Graham Greene as having 'all the freshness of Mr Osborne's Look Back in Anger and a greater maturity'. It was made into a highly acclaimed film in 1962. The play is about the adolescent Jo and her relationships with her irresponsible mum, Helen, the Nigerian sailor who leaves Jo pregnant and Geoffrey, the homosexual art student who moves in to help Jo with the baby. It is also about Jo's unshakeable optimism throughout her trials. This story of a mother and daughter relationship (imitated in many other modern British plays since), set in working-class Manchester, continues to engage new generations of audiences. This student edition, revised for the fiftieth anniversary of A Taste of Honey, also features an essay by Elaine Aston looking back at the impact of the play and assessing its importance today.

A Taste of Honey A Play

Reviews