Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir
July 25, 2018

Fractious and fraught are just two words that spring to mind when spending the evening with the mother-daughter duo of Shelagh Delaney’s raucous work A Taste of Honey. The no doubt apocryphal tale goes that an 18-year-old Delaney was inspired to pen this, her debut play, after seeing Terrence Rattigan’s Variation on a Theme. She wasn’t much impressed and set out to do better, creating a piece of theatre that took in working class women, interracial relations, and homosexuality, all written in just over a fortnight.

Genevieve Lemon and Taylor Ferguson in Belvoir St Theatre’s A Taste of Honey. All photos by Brett Boardman

Whether she bested Rattigan or not is a discussion for another day. What we have here is a vivid, perceptive work that’s a real feast for a cast who can sink their teeth into Delaney’s salty dialogue. In Eamon Flack’s tightly directed, mostly naturalistic production, there are memorable performances across the board, spearheaded by Genevieve Lemon as Helen, played to the manner born, and Taylor Ferguson’s affecting Jo. The play pivots on the relationship between the two, exploring the fallout when teenager...