A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney Essay -- English Literature

In writing A Taste of Honey, what impact did Shelagh Delaney hope to have upon her audience? What techniques did she use to achieve these aims? Shelagh Delaney wrote "A Taste of Honey" in 1958 when she was only 18. "A Taste of Honey" is a story about the relationship between a girl and her mother. The mother, Helen, who is a semi-whore, leaves her daughter, Jo, to get married to Peter. Jo has a relationship with a sailor and gets pregnant. The sailor then leaves for duty. Jo meets Geoff, they become friends and Geoff offers to help Jo bring up the baby. Helen returns after splitting up with Peter and wants Jo back. The audience that Shelagh Delaney was writing for consisted mainly of middle class and upper class people. Her audience were used to seeing productions about characters leading similar lives to their own. The stereotypical play was where the men worked and the women stayed at home, cleaning and cooking. "A Taste of Honey" did not have these qualities at all. Shelagh Delaney's aims were to shock her audience into seeing what the real world could be like. The audience of the time were relatively un-aware of the truth about working classes and their lives. This type of play was new to the theatrical stage, and could take time before the "working class" plays would be accepted and appreciated. The upper classes were mostly unaware that the lower classes were leading such different lives to themselves. Shelagh Delaney's play brought to light what the lower classes lives were like and the differences between the two classes. The plays of the time had very structured, clear story lines, with stereotypical happy families. Shelagh Delaney challenged these ideas about the ideal play along with man... ... "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.