News

Theatre Royal Gets A Taste of Honey!...

The Theatre Royal is abuzz as it welcomes its first production of the Summer Season, the renowned and highly influential play A Taste of Honey.  

Salford, 1959, and 17 year old Jo is desperate to break free from her vulgar, wayward and man-hunting mother, Helen… So begins the play that catapulted 18 year old playwright Shelagh Delaney to national recognition, and which helped to shape a generation. Part of the post-war kitchen sink movement, the play went on to be a classic of British cinema.

Resilient and feisty, Jo's instinct for survival and happiness leads her to a taste of honey when she falls in love with Jimmy, a black sailor on shore leave. Abandoned by her mother and left to cope on her own, Jo's courage is tested yet again when Jimmy returns to sea, and she discovers she's pregnant.

Defiant in the face of convention, Jo moves in with her friend Geoffrey, a young art student, who assumes the role of surrogate father to her unborn child. As their relationship deepens, Jo discovers that her independent spirit is both her torment and her salvation.

One of the most influential plays of its generation, A Taste of Honey burst onto the stage in 1961 in a production that took the West End by storm. Tackling such themes as class, race, gender and sexuality A Taste of Honey is thought provoking, touching and groundbreaking.

A Taste of Honey stars Rebeccan Ryan (Shameless and Waterloo Road) is Mark Babych's debut production as Hull Truck Theatre's new Artistic Director and is in co-production with Derby Theatre.