Naturalism vs Experimentalism: A Taste of Honey's ambivalent relationship with social realism

Abstract

The incorporation of surrealist elements in A Taste of Honey, at the behest of the avant- garde, anarchic, and provocative Joan Littlewood, director of the 1958 Theatre Workshop production, may provoke a hasty classification of the play as a fantastic or eccentric piece of theatre. Influenced by Brechtian techniques and so-called ‘illegitimate theatre’, the play’s inclusion of music hall references and direct audience addresses, scored by a jazz trio, certainly demonstrates an experimental flair. Nonetheless, the play’s unrealistic facets must be reconciled with its engagement with discourses of poverty, misogyny, racism, and homophobia; discourses which enable a categorisation of A Taste of Honey as conforming to the profoundly political and revolutionary movement of social realism. Despite the reality that the play’s depiction of the day-to-day experience of the working classes in 1958 Salford may be considered more abstract than realistic, Delaney’s depiction of the neglected state of the accommodation available to the impoverished through the play’s sets constitutes the first indication of the play’s commitment to an authentic portrayal, and a scathing critique, of societal marginalisation. Extended to a criticism of the social and economic exploitation and oppression of the working class more generally, Delaney’s commitment to social realism, and her sympathy for those ostracised within society, is manifest. Though A Taste of Honey rejects the formal confines of theatrical naturalism and realism, its engagement with experimentalist techniques ultimately serves to highlight the play’s commitment to issues of social justice. The radical politics of the play, accompanied by the radical practises of its director, enables a recognition of A Taste of Honey as an authentic, if unconventional, piece of social realism.