A Taste of Honey

A Taste of Honey is set in 1950s Salford in the north west of England. Delaney wrote it when she was just 19 years old and it is a key text in the so-called ‘kitchen sink’ realism that emerged in British theatre during the 1950s.

In a small, shabby Manchester flat, 17 year old Jo lives (reluctantly) with her single mother Helen. Helen lives off the men she has dalliances with, changing partners regularly, drinking far too much, and living up to her ‘good time girl’ persona even though she is now 40. Jo is used to her mother’s antics, but she is frustrated at having moved around so often. Now she is determined to leave school and find a job as soon as she can so that she be independent.