A Taste of Honey

Directed by Bijan Sheibani.

Written by Shelagh Delaney when she was nineteen, this 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. 

When her mother Helen runs off with a car salesman, feisty teenager Jo takes up with a black sailor who promises to marry her, before he heads off 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.

Bursting with energy and daring, this exhilarating and angry depiction of harsh, working-class life in post-war Salford is shot through with love and humour, and infused with jazz.