A Taste of Honey

It’s chaotic – a bit of love, a bit of lust and there you are. We don’t ask for life, we have it thrust upon us.”

The National Theatre, producers of War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time are taking Shelagh Delaney’s career defining play A Taste of Honey on a UK tour from September 2019. Directed by Bijan Sheibani (Barber Shop Chronicles), this classic is an exhilarating depiction of working-class life in post-war Salford.

When her mother Helen runs off with a car salesman, feisty teenager Jo takes up with Jimmy, a sailor who promises to marry her, before he heads for the seas leaving her pregnant and alone. Art student Geoff moves in and assumes the role of surrogate parent until, misguidedly, he sends for Helen and their unconventional setup unravels.

Written by Shelagh Delaney when she was nineteen, A Taste of Honey is one of the great defining and taboo-breaking plays of the 1950s, offering an explosive celebration of the vulnerabilities and strengths of the female spirit in a deprived and restless world.

★★★★★ Unmissable
Mail on Sunday

★★★★ A tough, tenacious play with an emotional bite that proves it is more than raucous comedy
The Guardian

★★★★ A touchstone portrayal of working class life
Time Out

Cast includes Jodie Prenger