A TASTE OF HONEY TASTES SWEET SUCCESS AGAIN AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE

Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey made a welcome return to the stage last week in Bijan Sheibani’s revival of this pioneering kitchen sink classic. Written when Delaney was just 18 and first produced by Joan Littlewood in 1958, A Taste of Honey captures a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship against the backdrop of gritty Salford, shrewdly putting the issues of race, class and sexual orientation within British society under the spotlight. The brilliant Dean Lennox Kelly shines alongside a stellar cast, including Lesley Sharp and Kate O’Flynn, as the “flirty, abrasive, wonderfully awful” cad Peter.

 “Dean Lennox Kelly revels in the role of booze-sodden cad Peter…” Henry Hitchings, London Evening Standard, ****

“And as Helen’s war-wounded new beau, Dean Lennox Kelly is flirty, abrasive, wonderfully awful.”

Dominic Maxwell, The Times, ****

“There’s good work from the surrounding men: …  Dean Lennox Kelly as Helen’s latest squeeze is all spivvy bravura…” Michael Billington, The Guardian, ****

“Dean Lennox Kelly impresses as the mother’s paralytically drunk boyfriend…” Paul Taylor, Independent, ****

A Taste of Honey plays at the Lyttelton Stage, National Theatre until 11 May 2014