A Taste of Honey Setting (Shelagh Delaney)

How does Shelagh Delaney establish her setting in the opening of the play?

In the first stage direction, Delaney tells us that the “stage represents a comfortless flat” which shows us how minimal the set of the play would have been. It allows us to see that it is not done up exactly as a flat, but that the audience will be able to tell that that is where the opening scene is based. This is immediately backed up by Jo calling it an “old ruin” showing us that perhaps she has not been involved in the decision making at all and that she wishes she had been. The first part of dialogue between Jo and Helen points to a disagreement between them, and it is this dialogue that their relationship throughout the rest of the play is based on.

Jo goes on, on page 11, to ask her mother if she can “smell that river?” and when she does this we get more of an insight into the flats setting within the city. It’s within a close vicinity to “the slaughterhouse” and this suggests that there will be further smells, especially “what it’ll be like in the summer.” We also learn that the flat is close to a cemetery and both this and the slaughterhouse prompt us to think of death and darkness, both of which are themes running through the play. When Jo tells Helen that her bulbs are “supposed to be left in a cool, dark place” Helen replies by saying “that’s where we all end up sooner or later” showing us that death is an important factor throughout.

Also, when looking at the setting of the play we can also consider the appearance of the flat and the comments that the characters, especially Jo, make. Firstly, Jo comments that it looks like an “old ruin” and although Helen initially fights back and says “it’s all I can afford” she later agrees telling us “everything in it’s falling apart, it’s true” showing that maybe they could have thought more about the flat as a whole. A final comment that Jo makes in the opening pages is that both Helen and Jo are “sharing a bed again” and “what [she]...