A Taste of Honey (Sheffield)

An on-stage Jazz Trio (Emma Correlle, Geoff Chalmers and Joann Kerrigan) lend an air of excitement to the opening of Sheffield Theatre‘s revival of Shelagh Delaney‘s A Taste of Honey. Unfortunately, this is a theatricality missing from the kitchen-sink realism of the production as a whole. The songs that Delaney has curiously imbedded in her text – perhaps suggesting a Music Hall ambiance – have been subsumed almost apologetically into the narrative of Polly Findlay‘s production; the actors acknowledge the musicians rarely, and the audience never. The team work hard to create Delaney‘s world, but forget to invite us in.