Presenting the working classes in a play had been a problem to many previous playwrights. They had wanted to include them in their plays but had wanted to miss out the reality factor. Shelagh Delaney was not frightened to show this side of life and has overcome the problem by showing the working classes as they really are. She achieves this by presenting the characters as down to earth and creates an environment which is basic and slightly crude.
Shelagh Delaney understands that prejudice and discrimination are wrong. We can see this because she includes people from different races and a “queer boy” in the play. Although Shelagh Delaney never actually quotes that Geoff is homosexual. Jo asks him what “his type” does. Peter also calls Geoff a “fruitcake”.
Peter “And don’t bring that little fruitcake parcel either! I can’t stand the sight of him. Can’t stand ‘em at any price”
This makes the audience aware that people of different races and sexualities live in the world and should not be treated any differently, they are the same as everyone else. Shelagh Delaney was only 18 when she wrote her play so had an open, un-prejudice mind. She wanted to make more people aware of the many different races of people that were now living in Britain. She also wanted to make sure that people did not get the wrong idea about people who were homosexual. She achieves this by introducing Geoffrey as Jo’s friend. By making Jo befriend Geoff, Shelagh Delaney is making the audience feel comfortable and at ease with a subject that they would not normally be confronted with. Jo speaks to Geoff about his ‘sexuality’ in a casual way
Jo: “You can stay here if you tell me what you do. Go on, I’ve always wanted to know about people like you.”
Geoff: “Go to hell”
Jo: “I won’t snigger, honest I won’t. Tell me some of it, go on. I bet you’ve never told a woman before.
Geof: “I don’t go in for sensational confessions”
Jo: “I want to know what you do.
Shelagh Delaney used the relationship between mother and daughter in this play as a main focus point. In the late fifties early sixties the mother, daughter relationship was meant to be very stereotypical. The daughter went to school, helped her mother with the housework and did as she was told. The mother was meant to act as a role model for the daughter and teach her all she would need to know in later life. Shelagh Delaney challenges their relationship greatly in this play. Helen is not a good mother at all and Jo does what she pleases when she pleases,
Helen: “Pass me that bottle- it’s in the carrier”.
Jo: “Why should I run around after you?”
This would have shocked the upper class audience. They thought that all daughters respected their mothers and used them as their role models. Shelagh Delaney shows the opposite of this.
In this play Helen is caring towards Jo in her own way, although she never explains herself as being a good mother
Jo: “You’ve never cared much before about what I was doing or what I was trying to do or the difference between them”
Helen: “I know, I’m a cruel, wicked woman.
The two main characters in this play, Jo and Helen, are both strong characters and both believe that their way of confronting life is always the right way. Although Helen is older and wants Jo to learn from her own mistakes, Jo believes that the way she does things is right. Jo can see her mum for who and what she is. Helen wants to leave Jo to fend for herself and live alone but because Helen loves Jo she can’t walk away. We can see from the following speech that Helen feels emotionally attached to Jo.
Peter: “Get rid of her”
Helen “I can’t”
Helen cares for Jo but shows it in a different way to the way Jo would like her to. Jo would like cuddles and love but Helen prefers to give Jo advice and money. This is Helen’s way of ‘caring’ for Jo.
The action of her play is set in Salford, Manchester in a flat. This represents the type of life of the working classes in England around 1958. Shelagh Delaney portrays the working classes as laid back and relaxed. The characters in this play do not ever seem to rush to do things unless they are social events.
The stage layout is very simple. There is the flat with the street outside on the other side of a wall:
Shelagh Delaney uses the stage space very well. The characters are constantly moving around and the audience/reader can easily see everything that is happening. When reading the play, the descriptions of the stage are not very clear, but because of the way she makes the characters move around the room/area it explains a lot to us through small movements. The dialogue also explains a lot about the setting.
Jo: “You can afford something better than this old ruin”
Jo: “Tomorrow? What makes you think were going to live that long? The roof’s leaking!”
At various points in “A Taste of Honey” Shelagh Delaney uses music on the set. Although the music is not coming directly from the main focus point on the set it creates a 1960’s feel. There are three different types of music that Shelagh Delaney uses in this play. They are jazz, fairground music and children’s street songs
At the beginning of the play she uses jazz music. This is to create the impression that the mood is cheery and the characters have begun something new. Jazz music was just becoming popular at this time. Shelagh Delaney plays fairground music later in the play to lighten the mood and as an escape.
She uses street songs to create the impression that Jo is still a child in body but an adult in mind (as the music is played outside the main focus area).
The play is set over a considerable period of time and it would be hard for Shelagh Delaney to stage a reasonable length play over this period of time. She overcomes this problem by skipping pieces of time in the play. For example, we find out that Jo is pregnant followed by the next scene when Jo is heavily pregnant. Shelagh Delaney also tells us in the stage directions what is happening.
“Geoffrey dances in with a mop and bucket and begins to clean…, in reality, months have passed between this and the previous scene”
The dialogue and language used is very typical to Manchester and Shelagh Delaney has given the play a feeling of reality through the language she has used. During the film “A Taste of Honey” the characters spoke with Manchester accents and used words which are typical to Manchester
“Can’t stand ‘em at any price”
The way she has scripted the dialogue between the two characters from the start of the play tells us that the two characters know each other very well. The dialogue is fast-paced and Shelagh Delaney uses short sentences to give the play edge.
Boy: “Glad I came?”
Jo: “You know I am”
The reason Shelagh Delaney has used this technique is to create a tense atmosphere. The characters in the play speak to each other in a way which reflects their moods. Shelagh Delaney has created this effect to make us aware of the characters moods from a different perspective.
The dialogue used, brings the characters closer in the audiences mind. It is very self-deprecating and sets the initial mood of the play.
Shelagh Delaney has placed a hidden depth into the play, which makes the audience feel sorry for Jo. She has used this technique to involve the audience and make them feel part of the play.
At various points the characters talk directly to the audience and orchestra,
To the audience “I ask you, what would you do?”
This was unusual for plays of the time. Shelagh Delaney was once again showing her instinct for new ideas. The reason that Shelagh Delaney uses this technique is to make the audience feel part of the play. This technique also causes the audience to think about the issues involved and how they would deal with the situation.
The play ends with an open ending. Geoff left Jo when Helen came back. Helen finds out that Jo’s baby is black and goes to the pub for a drink. She says to Jo that she is coming back but the audience has to decide whether they trust Helen as to decide if she will come back. This will shape how the play ends.
Jo:” Are you going?”
Helen:” Yes”
Jo: “Are you just going for a drink?”
Helen:” Yes”
Jo: “Are you coming back?”
Helen:” Yes”.
Shelagh Delaney instigates the doubt over whether Helen will return through Jo asking “Are you coming back?”
Shelagh Delaney contradicts the traditional playwrights with new, different and unusual ideas for her play. “A Taste of Honey” is a morality play. It underlines the morality of everyday life of the working classes. Morality plays were popular in the 14th and 15th Centuries. “A Taste of Honey” also reflects a Unity. A unity is a play that shows one day, one place and one story. The different scenes in this are individual unities. They are set in one place, have an individual story and show one short period of time. These unities add up to create the whole play.
John Osborne influenced Shelagh Delaney greatly. He was a writer who brought many new ideas into theatrical productions. John Osborne was the first writer to produce a “reality play”. He wrote ‘Look back in anger’ in 1956 when he was 27. Shelagh Delaney might have read his work and been inspired to produce a play like the plays John Osborne had written. Because Shelagh Delaney was only young when she wrote “A Taste of Honey” she would have been influenced by the world around her and other writers of the time. She would have brought in new ideas into theatre in the mind that “If she/he can do it, why can’t I?”
Shelagh Delaney’s “A Taste of Honey” was inspiration for many writers. The writers of “Soaps” like Coronation Street and Eastenders will have been greatly influenced by the new ideas that Shelagh Delaney had brought into theatre. Shelagh Delaney will have influenced these writers because she had written a play about a topic that hadn’t been shown on television before and the producers were looking for new ideas.
Shelagh Delaney’s work only has a small relevance to today’s audience. Most of the ideas and concepts in it are aimed to suit the audience of the 1950’s/60’s. The theatre audiences of today know that most modern working classes do not live as the characters do in “A Taste of Honey”.
In “A Taste of Honey” Shelagh Delaney shocked her audience by presenting them with situations that they were not used to. This effect created a well structured and enjoyable play.