A review by sadiereadsagain
A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney

2.0

I don't read plays, haven't done since school. Back then I didn't particularly enjoy it, as I'd rather either read a novel or see a performance, not be stuck in some grey area between the two. After reading this play, I can't say my opinion has changed a lot. I could appreciate the skill in telling a story mainly in dialogue with just a few stage directions to add context, but I really missed the emotion and depth that I know would be there in a performance. Because this is a story I would like to get more involved in. A loved the working class setting and the issues it brought up about life in that class in 1950's Britain, for a young woman and her neglectful mother. Dealing with issues like interracial relationships, unplanned pregnancy and poverty, written in the time it was set when Delaney was only 18, this was a bold and exciting work. But for me I just couldn't connect with the characters, and while some of the dialogue was seering and witty it didn't feel particularly natural. I don't always have to like a character, but I do have to feel something and often in this I just felt irritated by them. And when it's such a character-led piece, I struggled to enjoy it because of that.