A TASTE OF HONEY

By Kelly Jackson | @kellyjackson88 | Press Invite

I have a confession to make: I’m very biased when it comes to plays at the Richmond Theatre. Even though it is the other side of London to where I need to get my train home to Essex, any time an opportunity comes up to go there for The Live Review, I jump at the chance.

There’s just something about it that is so intimate and uncomplicated. It reminds me a lot of The Fortune. It’s exactly how a theatre should be. Completely untouched by the world of how many likes you get and where you are getting your pumpkin spiced latte. Pure, straightforward, quality acting and production.

This probably isn’t the greatest way to introduce A Taste of Honey, as it makes it sound like I just enjoy being there and would enjoy any play they put on. But the truth is, it works the other way around. One of the reasons I love the Richmond theatre is because I have never seen a bad play there, and that wasn’t about to change with A Taste of Honey.

While I was doing a bit of background research one of the things I loved about this play is that it was written in 1958 by a 19-year-old woman. That doesn’t sound too exceptional until you get to the content. At the heart of the play is a girl not much younger than the writer herself, Jo, who gets pregnant by a black man and decides to raise the baby alone with her gay friend supporting her. As you can imagine, in 1958, when homosexuality was still illegal and quite a lot of other situations in the play were heavily frowned upon, this caused quite a stir.

Jody Prenger, who plays Helen, is a genius piece of casting by this production. You get the feeling Jody and Helen are pretty much the same person which to me is the mark of a great actress. Her comedic timing is perfect. She perfects Helen’s biting wit which is delivered in such a way that even when she is saying something quite mean to Jo, you still find it quite hard to dislike her.

Helen doesn’t exactly provide a great role model, either. Labelled as “promiscuous”, she leaves Jo at regular intervals for long periods and doesn’t seem to care about her as much as her rich boyfriend. Describing them on paper, none of the characters seem remotely likable, do they? (Except for Geoff, Jo’s selfless friend who supports her through her pregnancy).

But without giving too much away to those who haven’t seen it, there is an underlying warmth in the play that comes in small pieces from each of the characters. Because when the storm is brewing, and everything seems to be going wrong, there is sometimes no better remedy than a cup of tea and a chat with your best friend. Or, a trip to see a play at your favourite London theatre.