A Taste of Honey is a play written by Shelagh Delaney. It was written in the late 1950s when Delaney was only 18 years old. The play is mainly set in a dreary, neglected flat in a rundown area of Manchester.
Nearby there is a slaughter house and a gasworks which indicates that the flat is situated in an industrial part of the city. The play is about the relationship between Jo, a young girl about to leave school, and her mother Helen. Their constant arguing and bickering implies that they do not get along.
Jo has often been left alone to fend for herself whilst Helen enjoys nights out with a variety of different men. As a result Jo feels unloved and insecure. She also feels a certain amount of bitterness towards Helen for her thoughtlessness.
When the play begins, Helen and Jo are about to move into the rundown flat and Jo is complaining that yet again they will be living in squalidExtremely dirty, filthy. surroundings. Helen leaves Jo alone in the flat in order to marry her boyfriend Peter. She returns only after discovering Jo is pregnant by her sailor boyfriend and Peter has left her for another woman.
The main focus of the play is the difficult relationship between Jo and Helen. Jo struggles to prove that she does not need her mother and strives for independence. However, because of her upbringing she often appears vulnerable and insecure and at times has difficulty coming to terms with her pregnancy.