Cast and Crew | Bruno's Role | Clips | Related Promo | Reviews

Jo is an awkward, shy 17-year-old girl living with her promiscuous alcoholic mother, Helen. Desperately longing to simply be loved, when her mother's latest "romance" drives Jo out of their apartment, she spends the night with a black sailor on a brief shore leave. But when Jo's mother abandons her to move in with her latest lover, Jo finds a job and a room for herself, meets Geoffrey, a shy and lonely homosexual, and allows him to share her flat. When she discovers that she is pregnant with the sailor's child, Geoffrey, grateful for her friendship, looks after her, even offering marriage. Their brief taste of happiness is short-lived for Jo's fickle and domineering mother, her own romantic hopes dashed, appears on the scene, determined to drive the gentle Geoffrey from the flat and take over the care of her daughter, rearranging everything to suit herself...
~ IMDB Website

Cast and Crew

Jo ... Samantha Robinson
Helen ... Samantha Giles
Geoffrey ... Bruno Langley
Peter ... Andonis Anthony
The Boy ... Chris Jack

Written By ... Shelagh Delaney
Director ... Stuart Wood
Touring Producer ... One For The Road Ltd
Designer ... Liz Ashcroft
Choreographer ... Beverley Norris-Edmunds
Fight Director ... Renny Krupinski
Lighting Designer ... Phil Davies
Sound Designer ... Dan Ogden
Featured Music By ... Cliff Richard, The Kalin Twins and The Beatles

Bruno's Role

Described by Bruno as being about "a bunch of misfits who are all looking for their one taste of honey in life", A Taste Of Honey is set in working class Salford in the 1950s, and tells the story of Jo and the volatile relationship she has with her mother, Helen. It also examines various subjects which were still considered a taboo back then - issues such as homosexuality, mixed race relationships, and teenage pregnancy.

The play was first performed at a small fringe theatre in London in 1958, before being published as a book a year later, and then being released as a film in 1961. It has since been performed on stage numerous times, most notably during a three month tour of the UK in 2006.

It was in this 2006 production that Bruno played the part of Geoffrey, Jo's gay friend who wants to help her raise her baby but realises in the end that he can’t compete with her hardened mother. The play ran for three weeks at the Oldham Coliseum Theatre in April and May 2006, and then toured theatres around the UK until July 2006.

Bruno received much critical acclaim for his sensitive and beautifully understated portrayal of the young gay art student who longs to be a family with Jo and her baby, and more than proved what a wonderful stage actor he is becoming.

Related Promo

T4

LK Today

Reviews

"...it's gripping, funny and extremely well acted...both Samantha Robinson and Bruno Langley create a brilliant partnership as Jo and her friend Geoffrey..." (This Is The Sentinel) | Full Review

"...in designer Liz Ashcroft's grotty Manchester bedsit we also get fine turns from Samantha Giles as the blowsy mum, her one-liners expertly timed; Chris Jack as the sailor; Bruno Langley as the house-proud gay companion; and Andonis Anthony as mum's dodgy spiv of a boyfriend..." (Nottingham Evening Post) | Full Review

"...all in all A Taste of Honey was a fantastic spectacle brought kicking and screaming to life by a competent five-strong cast..." (BBC Nottingham) | Full Review

"...Bruno Langley is wonderfully understated as the vulnerable and loving Geoffrey..." (Theatreworld Internet Magazine - Malvern) | Full Review

"...there are faultless performances from the cast..." (The Gazette - Malvern) | Full Review

"...Bruno Langley, as Geoff was a revelation....last night he brought vividly to life the gay art student without descending to overtly camp postures or attitudes. It was a beautifully understated performance...television's loss is very much the stage's gain..." (Indie London) | Full Review

"...as Jo, the hard-bitten teenager turned vulnerable mum-to-be, Samantha Robinson is allowed to show greater depth in her more reflective moments involving her amiable lover (Chris Jack) and sensitive housemate (a touching Bruno Langley)..." (The Times - Richmond) | Full Review

"...there is fine support from Bruno Langley as the kind, gay art student who provides Jo with the only care and domestic comfort she has ever known..." (The Telegraph - Richmond) | Full Review

"...the background of 50s rock and roll that accompanies the play works particularly well for Jo's spontaneous dance with Geoffrey – Bruno Langley – in a brief and thus all the more moving moment of domestic solace. Most of the performances are strong..." (Rogues and Vagabonds - Richmond) | Full Review

"...the play is beautifully acted; Samantha Robinson as Jo touching your heart with her naive defiance, Samantha Giles and Andonis Anthony as mum and her ghastly drunken boyfriend and Bruno Langley's Geoffrey, tentatively offering Jo his whole life and getting demolished by her mum..." (The Northern Echo - Darlington) | Full Review

"...it is splendidly acted by a cast of five, with standout performances by Samantha Robinson, whose taste of honey turned so sour so quickly, Samantha Giles as her reckless mother, and Coronation Street's Bruno Langley as her queer - in the vernacular of the times - but loyal friend..." (BBC South Yorkshire - Sheffield) | Full Review

"...Bruno Langley is a likeable and sympathetic Geoffrey..." (Theatreworld Internet Magazine - Sheffield) | Full Review

"...when acting with Bruno Langley, Samantha Robinson has real depth. Langley himself is quietly impressive, poignantly conveying Geoffrey's unending loyalty with ease..." (What's On Stage - Oldham) | Full Review

"...Young Bruno Langley uses thick-rimmed spectacles, to disguise his Coronation Street persona and plays Geoffrey, Jo's gay flatmate, with sincerity..." (The Stage - Oldham) | Full Review

"...Ex-Coronation Street actor Bruno Langley, hiding his Street persona behind thick-rimmed spectacles, plays Jo's gay flatmate with sincerity..." (Manchester Evening News - Oldham) | Full Review

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