A Taste of Honey, Part 3

Summary

1984 BBC production of A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney, presented in the schools series English File in three weekly parts.

Theatre play

A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney [more information]

Play synopsis

'A Taste of Honey is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 18. It was initially intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalise British theatre and to address social issues that she felt were not being presented. [...] A Taste of Honey is set in Salford in North West England in the 1950s. It tells the story of Jo, a seventeen-year-old working class girl, and her mother, Helen, who is presented as crude and sexually indiscriminate. Helen leaves Jo alone in their new flat after she begins a relationship with Peter, a rich lover who is younger than her. At the same time Jo begins a romantic relationship with Jimmy, a black sailor. He proposes marriage but then goes to sea, leaving Jo pregnant and alone. She finds lodgings with a homosexual acquaintance, Geoffrey, who assumes the role of surrogate father. Helen returns after leaving her lover and the future of Jo’s new home is put into question. A Taste of Honey comments on, and puts into question, class, race, gender and sexual orientation in mid-twentieth-century Britain. It became known as a "kitchen sink" play, part of a genre revolutionising British theatre at the time.' Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Taste_of_Honey.

Production history

'he play was first produced by Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop and was premiered at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, a small fringe theatre in London, on 27 May 1958. The production then transferred to the larger Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End on 10 February 1959. The play was adapted into an award-winning film of the same title in 1961. [...] By way of a visual backdrop to A Taste of Honey, Delaney reflected on life in Salford in a documentary, directed by Ken Russell, for BBC television’s Monitor that was broadcast on 26 September 1960.' Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Taste_of_Honey.

Date of transmission

Friday 12 October 1984

Time

2.30-3.00pm

Series

Schools; English File

Channel

BBC2

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Michael Simpson

Producer

Ronald Smedley

Lighting

Dave Sydenham

Playwright

Shelagh Delaney

Designer

Cecilia Brereton

Cast

Peter Egan	Peter
Jane Freeman	Helen
Sara Sugerman	Jo
Ian Targett	Geoff

Additional details

Play tags

north of England, as theme or setting; race relations; sexuality (and morality, politics etc)

Programme context tags

schools television programming

Audiovisual sources

Title

A Taste of Honey (BBC, 1984)

Archive

BBC Information and Archives [more information]

Address

White City
London
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)20 8008 2288

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/informationandarchives/

Access

BBC Information and Archives is not open to the public.

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 4 October 1984 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 83

Associated programmes

A Taste of Honey, Part 1 (BBC, 1984)
A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney
BBC2 (Schools; English File)

A Taste of Honey, Part 2 (BBC, 1984)
A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney
BBC2 (Schools; English File)