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uk/

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CENTURY SOCIO-POLITICAL DRAMA SEMINAR PREPARATION

Title of play: A Taste of Honey Date of first stage performance: First performed in 1958 by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop Company in London. Date of film adaptation: 1961, Tony Richardson. Author: Shelagh Delaney

Authors date & place of birth: 1938 Salford, Lancashire. 3 significant details of authors personal circumstances/times in which play was written: Having failed her eleven-plus examination, Delaney left school at the age of sixteen. She had several jobs, including usherette and shop assistant but all she wanted to do was write. When the play was performed with acclaim there was a concern that too much praise for the plays nineteen-year-old author would make it difficult for her to ever create another hit play, as the success might prove so intimidating that she could never live up to her first accomplishment. In a sense, this is what happened, since Delaney never wrote another play that achieved the success of A Taste of Honey. When Shelagh Delaney began working on A Taste of Honey, she intended the material to be a novel but instead changed it into a play after seeing a Terence Rattigan play. She felt that Rattigan nor the other playwrights of the time were writing about the sort of people and places she knew of, nor were they dealing with real social issues. The theatre of the 1950s seemed to her to be presenting safe, sheltered, cultured lives in charming surroundings- not life as the majority of ordinary people know it [ ] I had strong ideas about what I wanted to see in the theatre [] Usually North Country people were shown as gormless whereas in actual fact they are very alive and cynical. 1

Structure of play: Setting, Acts/scenes, timescale Set in a flat in Manchester. Act 1, Act 2 scenes 1&2. The entire story plays out in the officers' dugout over 2.5 days from 18 March 1918 to 21 March 1918.

Characterisation :Main characters in play & very brief summary of Personality/Role in play/Illustrative quotation Helen, is described as a semi-whore, who drinks too much. She is humorous, casual, converses with her daughter Jo, an older man and public school master, much more conscientious, who has come to relieve him: Osbourne : You havent told me anything yet. Hardy: What else do you want to know? Osbourne: Well, what about trench stores? Hardy : You are a fussy old man. Anybodyd think you were in the army Hardy jokes about the behaviour of Captain Stanhope, who has turned to alcohol in order to cope with the stress which the war has caused him. Osbourne defends him: He came out straight from schoolnever had a restbecause hes stuck it till his nerves have got battered to bits, hes called a drunkard. Stanhope and the other officers refer to Osborne as 'Uncle'. Josephine (Jo), a servant cook, is concerned about the lack of ingredients and quality of food he serves up : If you look down straight on [the bacon] from above, sir, you can see the bit o lean quite clear. Peter, is a rotund soldier who likes his food; he can't stand the war and counts down each hour that he serves in the front line by drawing circles onto a piece of paper and then colouring them in: I mean wars bad enough with pepper without pepper its-its bloody awful! Geoffrey, is a young and naive officer who joins the company. Raleigh admits that he requested to be sent to Stanhope's company: We were at school togetherI was only a kid and he was one of the big fellowsHe was skipper of rugger at Barford As Stanhope is in a relationship with Raleigh's sister Madge, he is concerned that Raleigh will write home and inform his sister of Stanhope's drinking. Stanhope has a keen sense of duty and feels that he must continue to serve rather than take leave to which he is entitled. He criticises another soldier, Second Lieutenant Hibbert, who he thinks is faking neuralgia so that he can be sent home instead of continuing fighting :the pains nearly sending me mad. Im going; Ive got all my stuff packed. Im going now you cant stop me. Stanhope and the Sergeant-Major discuss battle plans. The Colonel relays orders that the General wants a raid to take place on the German trench prior to the attack, "a surprise daylight raid". Higher ranking officials hardly see the soldiers as men.The German attack on the British trenches approaches, and the Sergeant Major tells Stanhope they should expect heavy losses. A mortar hits the dugout causing it to collapse. Dramaturgy & language: choose a two page extract and comment on the choice of language and dramatic effects :

Act, Scene & page number

Socio-political Themes : how they are presented; 2 quotations to illustrate each (with Act, Scene, page number) 1.Education : public school ethos amongst officers; other ranks considered less intelligent & imaginative; Raleigh about Stanhope : Last time he was on leave he came down to the schoolhed just got his MC and been made a captainhe was so keen on the fellows in the house keeping fit Act 1 p.18/19 Stanhope about Trotter :Funny not to have any imaginationI suppose all his life Trotter feels like you and I do when were drowsily drunkif Trotter looks at that wall he just sees a brown surface. He doesnt see into the earth beyond-Act 2 sc1 p.44 2.Class/Race : Other ranks inferior lower class indicated by language; upper class values related to old boy network & respect for sportsmen : Stanhope, Mason & Trotter : Your puddings made Mr Trotter feel all blown out, Mason. Im sorry, sir, it wasnt meant, sir. Its alright, Mason, take it from me. I know a decent bit o pudden when I see it. Act 3 sc2 p.80 Osbourne & Raleigh : Did you play rugger? Yes. But mainly reffing at school in the last few yearsI played for the English team on one great occasion. Oh that must have been simply toppingthe others ought to know. Itd make them feel jolly bucked.Act 2 sc1 p.41 3.Gender : no women characters in play; those referred to seen as in need of protection or as providing entertainment & sexual gratification : Stanhope about Raleighs sister, Madge : I just prayed to come through the war and and do things and keep absolutely fit for her I didnt go home on my last leave. I couldnt bear to meet her, in case she realised Act 1 p.32 Hibbert : I never forget picking up a couple of tarts one night[handing Stanhope another card] : Thats the one I like best. Not Bad. Glorious bedroom eyes.Act 3 sc2 p.77/9 4.Power : Officers power over men, Higher ranks power over officers; emotional power - peer pressure/sportsmanship Stanhope & Hibbert :If you went, Id have you shot for deserting. Its a hell of a disgrace to die like thatYou either stay here and try to be a man or you try to get out of that door Stay here, old chap and see it through Act 2 sc2 p.56/7 Colonel & Stanhope :the general wants us to make a raid to find out whos come into the line opposite here. I see. When? As soon as possible. He said tonight. Oh, but thats absurd! Stanhope, I-I cant let you go. No. I want one officer to direct the raid and one to make the dash in and collar some Boche.Act 2 sc2 p.52/3

Original and later Critical comments/reviews 3 quotations Original reviews: Milton Shulman gave a scathing review in the Evening Standard. He felt that the play was "about as convincing as some dream fantasy watched through a distorting mirror", and that its young author "knows as much about adult behaviour as she does about elephants". He gave her a reading list: Shaw, Ibsen, O'Casey, Anouilh and Williams.- 1958, Milton Shulman, Evening Standard. the first English play Ive seen in which a coloured man, and a queer boy, are presented as natural characters, factually without a nudge or shoulder. It is also the first play I can remember about working-class people that entirely escapes being a working-class play: no patronage, no dogma, just the thing as it is, taken straight. In general hilarious and sardonic, the play has authentic lyrical moments arising naturally from the very situations that created the hilarityit gives a final overwhelming impression of good health- of a feeling for life that is positive, sensible and generous.-Colin Macinnes, Encounter (1959) all the freshness of Mr Osbournes Look Back in Anger and a greater maturity. Graham Greene

A Taste of Honey
Venue: Theatre Royal Where: York Date Reviewed: April, 2004.

in the capable hands of director Damien Cruden and designer Dawn Allsop. The seediness and grime of a Northern city in the late 50s are vividly brought to life in a set featuring a cobbled street complete with staircase and manhole cover, lines of grubby washing and the squalid flat shared by young Jo and her prostitute mother Helen. Fans of the 1961 film will probably be surprised by the sheer theatricality of the play - characters address the audience directly and break into song and dance when the spirit moves them, the set is cleverly lit to suggest a nightclub atmosphere at appropriate moments, and we never for a moment mistake the play for the kitchen-sink drama of its era (which perhaps explains why the black and gay characters are remarkable for their inclusion, not for any revolutionary insights into their lives). Although there were moments when I found the pace a little slow, Cruden generally keeps the drama bowling along and makes the most of the semi-musical aspects. - J. D. Atkinson

3 Other plays of the period (19.20s.s) with details of author/date/very brief summary of plot

http://www.enotes.com/taste-honey/characters