A Taste of Honey

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This article is about the play. For the film, see A Taste of Honey (film). For other meanings, see A Taste of Honey (disambiguation).

A Taste of Honey is the first play by British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written at the age of 19. First produced by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, in London on May 27, 1958. The production transferred to Wyndham's Theatre in the West End on February 10, 1959.

One of the "kitchen sink" plays (the first of which was Look Back in Anger by John Osborne) that at the time were revolutionizing English theater, it confronts a range of social issues — single motherhood, race, sexuality — from a female point-of-view and with frankness, both unusual for 1950s Britain. The play and its film adaptation were influential in changing the public's attitude towards art and society.

Set in Northern England, the play tells the story of Jo, a 17-year-old working class girl whose mother, a crude, sexually indiscriminate 'slapper', abandons her after finding a rich and considerably younger lover. She finds a room with Geoffrey, a gay acquaintance, and becomes pregnant after sleeping with Jimmy, a black sailor. Geoffrey assumes the role of father until Jo's mother returns, when the future of her new family is put into question.

On October 4, 1960, the play opened at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre with a Tony Richardson-directed cast headed by Joan Plowright (playing young Jo at 30) Angela Lansbury (portraying her mother at only four years older than Plowright) and Billy Dee Williams.

The play was adapted into a film of the same name in 1961. The play earned several awards, including the Charles Henry Foyle New Play award in 1958 and the New York Drama Critics' Circle in 1961. The film version won the British Academy Award for best British Film in 1961 and a best actress award for Dora Bryan. The film also won two additional awards at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962 for best actor (Murray Melvin) and best actress (Rita Tushingham).

The play was admired by Morrissey of the band The Smiths, who used Delaney's photo on the album cover artwork for Louder Than Bombs. Another photo of Shelagh Delaney appears on the cover for their song, "Girlfriend in a Coma". An earlier Smiths song, "This Night Has Opened My Eyes," is based on Delaney's story and includes Geoffrey's line to Jo near the end of the play, "the dream has gone but the baby is real." Other quotations and near-quotations appear in several other Smiths and Morrissey songs.[1]

A Taste of Honey
A Taste of Honey DVD Cover
Directed by	Tony Richardson
Produced by	Tony Richardson
Written by	Shelagh Delaney (play and screenplay) Tony Richardson (screenplay)
Starring	Dora Bryan Robert Stephens Rita Tushingham
Music by	John Addison
Distributed by	British Lion Films
Release date(s)	September, 1961 30 April 1962
Running time	UK: 117 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

[edit] Awards

The film won four BAFTA awards: Richardson won Best British Screenplay (with Delaney) and Best British Film, Bryan won Best Actress and Tushingham was named Most Promising Newcomer. Tushingham and Melvin were Best Actress and Actor at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival. In America the film won Tushingham a 1963 Golden Globe for Most Promising Female Newcomer and Richardson a Directors Guild of America award.

[edit] Trivia

In the film's opening scenes of street life in Salford, two young children are seen playing. One of them, the 7 year old Hazel Blears, grew up to become the local MP for Salford and a Cabinet Minister.