A Taste of Honey – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

Opening the Garrick Studio’s new season of Manchester based plays is the iconic A Taste of Honey. It’s hard to believe that Shelagh Delanay was just 19 years old when she wrote this funny yet furious piece which still manages to hit hard and square 65 years on from its first production.

Set in Salford, in a damp and draughty bedsit, we meet Helen and her teenage daughter Jo mid moonlight flit as they decamp from one squalid living quarter to another. Described in the text as a ‘semi-whore’ Helen is a single mother, trying to make ends meet by whatever means she can and grasping on to whatever opportunities may come her way. Jo is weary of their lifestyle and is searching for love and security, for guidance and comfort, where none is likely to emerge.

When her mother leaves her for Peter, her latest ‘fancy man’, Jo falls into the arms of Jimmy, a young black nurse who is mid National Service in the navy. He disappears down the ship canal as quickly as he arrived from it, leaving Jo pregnant and alone and facing an uncertain future.

The arrival of Geoffrey, a gay art student friend of Jo’s, brings some stability and comfort into her life and the two navigate her pregnancy together and attempt to establish a stable household for Jo’s child to be born into.

The production is well cast, flows with good pace and pulls no punches on the harsh realities of the play.

For me, Eildh Pollard excels as Jo. Brooding and moody, cynical beyond her years, vulnerable yet hard, she immediately established herself as the appendage of her mother and to some degree an unwanted accessory to Helen’s life. Her defensive and guarded state when interacting with her mother contrasts beautifully with the lightness seen in her relationship with Jimmy, (A J Adeosun) her short term lover. But it is in her relationship with Geoffrey (Jamie King) in which she blooms and grows. As some form of love and stability becomes available to her, there is a subtle flourishing that emerges. King gives a performance of depth and detail that captures the essence of Geoffrey beautifully. Director Carole Carr allows the space for the two together to provide the most touching moments of the play with great rapport and understanding and has clearly guided these young actors with skill and knowledge.

Kim Armston presents Helen as the selfish, narcissistic, boozy woman that she generally is. There is some good energy and drive but Helen is a force of nature, she has confidence and experience that is both forceful and fragile and Arsmton did not fully succeed for me. I put this down to, at times, a lack of confidence with Armston’s knowledge of the script and the subsequent lack of trust from those playing the scene with her. I would hope that as the run continues this improves because there is certainly the potential for this.

Anthony Morris as Peter, commands the space of the small living area and allows Peter’s naturally dominating character to dictate. He is a man who fills a room whether you want him to or not and Morris uses both the charisma of the character, the bullish nature of the role and the moments of comedy to good effect.

Unfortunately, the connection between Peter and Helen did not fully work for me. The extremities of their relationship, the changes in the balance of power and the tension of what exchanges between them was not always successful for reasons I have already gone into.

The set is relatively bleak. There are few home comforts in this living space which depicts a room in which two people will exist. The view of the gasworks and the local slaughterhouse gently remind us of the community in which these women survive. The kitchen, which is usually an unseen room off the set, is incorporated into the room. Whilst this is successful in emphasising the smallness of the space and reinforcing the bedsit like feel I was not convinced that this was the best design decision as it minimised the impact of the conversations that take place whilst another character should be out of sight.

I did feel that with some small additions and touches especially in the second half, and to reflect the impact of Geoffrey’s presence, the flat could have been made more ’homely’ to show the contrast between the space at the start of the play when Helen and Jo move in, and the home that has been created by the end.

Costumes were chosen and designed well and added to the sense of time and the period of the piece with care and accuracy.

I enjoyed this studio production. Carr directs with care and understanding and presents a flowing and real depiction of an iconic and important piece of theatre that is an excellent choice with which to launch this exciting season for one of our leading local theatres.

Reviewer: Lou Kershaw

Reviewed: 23rd September 2025

North West End UK Rating: