Shelagh delaneys a taste of honey brings real rage to the theatre royal, stratford east, on may 27 1958 samantha ellis wed 10 sep 2003 09. A taste of honey 2000 in this domestic drama, british teen jo rita tushingham struggles to find love in her bleak daytoday life, which is dominated by her alcoholic mother, helen dora bryan. The immediate success of shelagh delaney play led the young writer to sell the film rights only one year after the plays first performance. Rita tushingham was working backstage at the liverpool rep when she spotted an ad for the auditions for this film. Shelagh delaney was only 19 when she wrote the original play on which a taste of honey is based, and its her brilliant words plus characters who are easy to warm to that make this such a memorable film. A taste of honeywhich was based on a play by shelagh delaneyraised issues of race, class, and sexual orientation. Peter arrives and the trio antagonize each other, jo asks to see peters pictures of all the women in his wallet. Teenage jo lives with her single mother helen, a woman who is hardened by life, an alcoholic and a good time girl. A taste of honey is a 1961 british film adaptation of the play of the same name by shelagh delaney. When he later leaves her, she plans to raise the child with her gay best friend.
Unfortunately, the intense focus on true to life realism left me feeling bored throughout much of the film. This film was a success both critically and commercially, and richardson and woodfall decided to follow it with one set in manchester that richardson would direct himself. When her mother runs out on her with a new boyfriend, she finds a friend in. Abandoned by her alcoholic mother dora bryan, jo is taken in by a kindly gay friend murray melvin, who nobly sets about creating an unconventional family when the girl. And woodfall and richardson hit the jackpot in 1963 with osbornes period adaptation of henry fieldings eighteenthcentury novel tom jones. A taste of honey, a japanese television drama series. This exploration of single motherhood, friendship, love, and motherdaughter relations is one of the better british, kitchen sink dramas of the. Cinema retro writer david savage revisits a key film from britains golden age of moviemaking. Jo has been trailing after her mother, who shuffles between unsuitable men and flats not fit to live in, and then she gets pregnant. A taste of honey, british film, released in 1961, that is often cited as a classic example of the socially conscious and realistic angry young man dramas that. It was written in the late 1950s when delaney was only 18 years old. Delaney adapted the screenplay herself, aided by director tony richardson, who had previously directed the first production of the play. A compendium of sixties hot potatoes unmarried motherhood, race, homosexuality baked in a cracking script from shelagh delaney s stage play.
Characterizing the city as a gendered space in a taste of honey. The movie, a taste of honey, released in 1961, won four bafta awards, including best british screenplay. A taste of honey is set in salford in north west england in the 1950s. Can you match each of these bond villains with their own evil plot.
It tells the story of the relationship between jo, a 17 year old working class girl and her mother helen, who is presented as a crude lady, who has no money and is just focused on her relationship with a younger, rich man. It tells the story of jo, a seventeenyearold working class girl, and her mother, helen, who is presented as crude and sexually indiscriminate. Interviews with the cast of national theatres a taste of honey by curvetheatre. A taste of honey, was set in the northwestern england in the 1950s. A taste of honey is the first play by the british dramatist shelagh delaney, written when she. Directed by tony richardson, a leading light of that movement, and based on one of the most controversial plays of its time, a taste of honey features rita tushingham in her starmaking debut role as a disaffected teenager. A taste of honey young jo rita tushingham struggles to survive a series of hard knocks in tony richardsons realistic tale of workingclass life in 1960s england. Enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing a taste of honey near you. Jos boyfriend comes over and consoles her, and she asks him to stay with her over christmas.
It is an exemplar of a gritty genre of british film that has come to be called kitchen sink realism and was the inspiration behind the song your mother should. The a taste of honey quotes below are all either spoken by jimmie the boy or refer to jimmie the boy. When shelagh delaney began working on a taste of honey, she intended the material to be a novel. In her play shelagh delaney has chosen to discuss many issues, the most important one being the mother and daughter relationship that exists between jo. A taste of honey, a 2016 lgbt fantasy romance novella by kai ashante wilson. This film version of shelagh delaneys play follows the hopes and dreams of five. Like truffauts film, a taste of honey is about a misunderstood adolescent, is semiautobiographical, was shot on location, and follows the hardships of growing up without the support of a family and a good group of friends. With all that, i couldnt wait to get my hands on this book. The story is set in a rundown, postindustrial area of salford. The script was an adaptation of a play that had already been a hit both in londons west end and on broadway where richardson had also directed ita taste of honey.
The film parallels truffauts the 400 blows of the french new wave. Shot in documentary style, the fair sequence shines as a mesmerizing snapshot of a lost moment in time. A taste of honey tries desperately to dance between melodrama, comedy, romance, and the mundane and there are moments sprinkled throughout that land on target. A taste of honey, tart and lively around the edges and bitter at the core, is richardsons best film to date. A taste of honey is a film directed by tony richardson with rita tushingham, dora bryan, murray melvin, robert stephens, year. In her screen debut, tushingham gave a compelling performance as a. In a taste of honey, essence bestselling author darren coleman delivers another sizzling, dramafilled tale that is sure to take his reputation for. Jo plays sport with a group of girls in the schoolyard but is easily frustrated. Complete summary of shelagh delaneys a taste of honey. The next year, richardson followed a taste of honey with the loneliness of the long distance runner, which also found both boxoffice success and critical acclaim.
With rita tushingham, dora bryan, robert stephens, murray melvin. A taste of honey is the first play by the british dramatist shelagh delaney, written when she was 19. A taste of honey criterion collection at why so blu. The play was adapted into a film of the same title in 1961. A taste of honey is a play written by shelagh delaney a taste of honey or taste of honey may refer to. Made in 1961, a taste of honey tells the story of a working class salford schoolgirl who meets, falls in love with, and falls pregnant to, a black british sailor. The film was wildly daring for its day, a fact that is liable to be lost on younger audiences. A pregnant teenage girl must fend for herself when her mother remarries, leaving the girl with only a new male friend for support. While this movement often focused on young, workingclass men disillusioned with the conventions of modern society, delaney expanded its themes to focus on women and to expose complex dynamics of class, sexuality, and race. A taste of honey women wiki fandom powered by wikia.
A taste of honey play themes overview bbc bitesize. The a taste of honey community note includes chapterbychapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you. Tony richardson s film of shelagh delaney s play was a critical and commercial success, following hard on the heels of saturday night and. Russian cinemas fined for showing the wolf of wall street.
Jo played by rita tushingham is a 17yearold schoolgirl, with a selfcentred, 40yearold mother with a drinking problem, helen dora bryan after a fall while walking past the manchester ship canal, jo meets a black sailor called jimmy paul danquah. A taste of honey 1961 a pregnant teenage girl must fend for herself when her mother remarries, leaving the girl with only a new male friend for support. A taste of honey, london, may 1958 stage the guardian. This was rightly called kitchen sink realism at the time. A taste of honey 1961 is one of the most poignant of the entire genre and unusually features a young woman, jo, as its central character and introduced rita tushingham in her first film role. It was the first british feature film to be made entirely on location, around the streets and canals of manchester and neighbouring salford jo rita tushingham tags along with her mother helen the priceless dora bryan and her fancy man. The character of jimmie the boy in a taste of honey. An introduction to a taste of honey the british library. A taste of honey essays are academic essays for citation.
Black and white, gay and straight, mothers and daughters, class, and coming of age. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one. In shelagh delaneys playand later, filma taste of honey, a teenager named jo finds herself struggling with her roles and responsibilities in life. She is illegitimate and lives with her feckless mother, ellen. A taste of honey, as delaney later revealed, had been long in the making, having begun life as a novel. Summaries a pregnant teenage girl must fend for herself when her mother remarries, leaving the girl with only a new male friend for support. A taste of honey is a melancholy tale with a notably unresolved ending. In a workingclass british neighborhood, a 17yearold girl is living with an alcoholic, promiscuous mother who ignores her. Jo is working class, in her teens, living with her drunk and libidinous mother in northern england. Murray melvin and rita tushingham in a taste of honey 1961 murray melvin in a taste of honey 1961. Director and producer tony richardson passed up an offer of american financing for the film by choosing tushingham, not audrey hepburn, for the lead role. It was initially intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalise british theatre and to address social issues that she felt were not being presented. Helen and peter leave for a trip, and jo doesnt believe helen will be back. It is an exemplar of a gritty genre of british film that has come to be called kitchen sink realism.
The revolutionary british new wave films of the early 1960s were celebrated for their uncompromising depictions of workingclass lives and relations between the sexes. A taste of honey is a play written by shelagh delaney. Helen leaves jo alone in their new flat after she begins a relationship with peter, a rich lover who is younger than she. Honeys attempt at vengeance quickly unravels, complicated by her possible involvement in a murder and a devious plot to score a payday lucrative enough to free her from her unsavory lifestyle. British identity a taste of honey 1961 film by cbscmediastudies. Plot summary a taste of honey by shelagh delaney centres on the difficult relationship between troubled teenager jo, and her selfish mother helen. The opening credits play over a girls game of netball in a school playground. A taste of honey study guide from litcharts the creators. Written when she was 19, shelagh delaneys a taste of honey is both a landmark of kitchen sink realism and of feminist drama.
The plot offers nothing new in terms of what were used to seeing on the big screen, and maybe i have seen enough movies from the 1960s to. A taste of honey, a 1961 film adaptation of the play. A taste of honey gave greater complexity and depth to a literary movement that developed in england in the late 1950s called kitchensink realism. Also sign me up for fanmail to get updates on all things movies.
2 1421 238 15 442 1303 1138 192 1345 206 734 1319 1341 395 148 805 179 280 358 214 710 702 1384 487 1283 360 1078 1286 1353 569 780 1105 83 1005 329 940 1310 1317 679 352 169 1031 560 939