A Taste Of Honey - Malvern

Reviewed By: Sue Vickers

A Taste of Honey is a play I read at school. The kind of gritty northern working-class drama my English teachers were so fond of.

We watched the 1961 film version with Rita Tushingham in the school's AV room, but I never saw a stage performance.

The production at Malvern Theatres this week reminded me what a moving play it is and how ahead of its time it was in so many ways.

The play is about Jo, a young working-class girl and her boozy, irresponsible mother. Abandoned first by her mother and then by her boyfriend, a black sailor, she is left alone and pregnant. She forms a loving friendship with the sexually confused Geoffrey and finds a kind of happiness with him, playing house like children.

Written by Shelagh Delaney when she was just 18, the play's dialogue is natural and full of life. The mother's addressing of comments to the audience grated a little in a play which, in all other ways, is untheatrical and full of realism. However, faultless performances from the cast, particularly Samantha Robinson as Jo and Samantha Giles as Helen, made it as touching as I remember it.

A Taste of Honey is still fresh and original. The play is at Malvern Theatres until tomorrow (Saturday).

© The Gazette, 13/6/06

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