A Taste of Honey: performance conventions

Understanding of A Taste of Honey’s Style

A Taste of Honey is a ‘kitchen sink’ drama, focusing on working-class life, gritty realism, and social realism, examining themes like family relationships, love, race, and class.

Each character in ‘A Taste of Honey’ is complex and multi-dimensional. It’s essential for performers to convey these complexities to communicate the play’s intended meaning effectively.
Being a kitchen sink drama, authenticity in portrayal is crucial. Characters and their interactions should feel genuine and true to life.
The performers should embrace the emotional depth of the characters, whose emotions are raw and often volatile, while maintaining control of the scene.

The language in ‘A Taste of Honey’ is colloquial, regional (Manchester dialect), and straightforward, often including dry, hard-hitting humour.

Originally written for theatre-in-the-round, it’s important to consider the use of the entire stage and audience engagement from all angles.

The play uses various symbols like honey, bears, and thorns to represent underlying themes and ideas. Performers should recognise and incorporate these symbols into their performance.

Jazz music is a significant element in this play, creating a social and historical context and signifying Jo’s aspiration for freedom.

The setting, a small flat in post-war Britain, is crucial for understanding the characters’ struggles. A clear representation of this environment is vital to the performance.

The performers should adopt the techniques of naturalism to make the performance believable and relatable, making the audience feel as if they’re observing real life.