Express & Star

Jodie Prenger talks ahead of A Taste of Honey role in Wolverhampton

Acclaimed actress Jodie Prenger is returning to her roots in the National Theatre tour of A Taste of Honey. She will be directed by Bijan Sheibani, best known for Barber Shop Chronicles, in A Taste Of Honey.

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Jodie Prenger

The show provides an exhilarating portrayal of the vulnerabilities and strengths of the female spirit and reaches Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre from Tuesday to Saturday, November 9. It tells the story of Jodie’s character, Helen, in a deprived and restless world, featuring original music performed live by the cast and an on stage band.

When Helen runs off with a car salesman, feisty teenager Jo takes up with Jimmy, a sailor who promises to marry her, before he heads for the seas. Art student Geoff moves in and assumes the role of surrogate parent until, misguidedly, he sends for Helen and their unconventional setup unravels.

Jodie can remember the first time she encountered Shelagh Delaney’s ground-breaking play, A Taste of Honey. “A friend of mine, Bobby Delaney – no relation – had played Geoff before and he gave it to me. I read it and just loved it.

“It spoke to me because my mum’s side of the family are all from the Manchester area and I just really related to it. When I went for the audition, I just thought “I’m going to do my nan.” It was her voice; I could just hear it.

“It’s a working class story, set in Salford. The central plot is about a mother and daughter relationship between Helen and Jo. But as well as that relationship and their struggles, Jo meets a sailor and that’s a big turning point for her. He gives her all the love she craves from her mother. It was very taboo.”

The play was written in 1958, and that relationship was taboo because Jimmy is black, but the piece explores other areas that hadn’t been explored much on stage before too. Jo’s friend Geoff is gay, and even the depiction of the working class, and working class women in particular, was unusual. Does it still have the same power to shock?

“When they first put it on at Theatre Royal Stratford East, the actor who played Geoff, Murray Melvin, was told where the exits were because they didn’t know the reaction that the play would get. That’s how taboo it was. Imagine being told that, how to escape!

“We have moved on, but I think it’s important to look back on where we’ve come from and recognise how far we’ve come. I think that’s why A Taste of Honey is still very relevant. I think it’s great to celebrate how far we’ve come; sadly we’ve still got a bit further to go.”

Jodie is playing the role of Jo’s mother, Helen, who’s hardened to the world. She is a single mother and has issues with alcohol. “In an old review they called her a monster. I don’t think she is. I don’t think she’d ever see herself as a victim either, more a woman of circumstance. I love her grit. I love her brassiness. Her humour is exceptional. There’s so much I love about her, but she’s flawed in many ways too.

“The play is full of that warm northern humour, that even in your darkest days, you make light of it… “My leg’s fell off”...”Don’t worry, you’ve got another one.” The characters may be in the depths of poverty, but they make do and they struggle on. That’s what they all did. They had that fight in them, that “I’m going to get through this.” That’s the great thing about A Taste of Honey – it’s a beautiful funny fight for life. And the language and the rhythm of the script are extraordinary.”

The play was written by Shelagh at a time when it was much harder for women and writers from the working class to have plays staged. “She was an unknown quantity. She was 19, from a working class family, and also a woman. And she was writing about working class women that existed at that time, but really weren’t heard about. They were meant to be at home with the kids, cooking dinner for when their husbands came home. These wondrous women were just out there and they were a shouting force for all the women in Salford at that time.

“The barriers that have been broken down since then have been phenomenal. We have to hold our hands up; we owe it to women like Shelagh. They’re the people we have to tip our hats to because they literally paved the way for us, the women of today.”

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