DOCSLIB.ORG

A Taste of Honey ALBERT HUNT Buildings and Statues from a Low Angle As If We Were Seeing Them Gliding Past Jo’S Eyes Through the Bus Window

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Taste of Honey ALBERT HUNT Buildings and Statues from a Low Angle As If We Were Seeing Them Gliding Past Jo’S Eyes Through the Bus Window through the centre of a Northern industrial town, shooting extension of this tradition in the work of Tony Richardson. A Taste of Honey ALBERT HUNT buildings and statues from a low angle as if we were seeing them gliding past Jo’s eyes through the bus window. The Think of Look Back in Anger with its phoney opening camera-work is again arty and self-indulgent. It is also an sequence in the jazz club (a sequence which makes nonsense, echo of the sequence in We Are the Lambeth Boys in which incidentally, of Jimmy Porter’s isolation), followed by that It is hard to write objectively about films like A Taste of Honey. T he British film industry is so the boys, on their way home from Mill Hill, pass through the picturesque walk home through the dark streets, with Jimmy infantile that when an adult film does slip through it is tempting to forget about criticism and West End. Only Reisz was, of course, making a sharp from time to time blowing his trumpet; or think of the simply ram it between the teeth of the Carry On brigade. Let me begin, then, by welcoming A comment on the contrast between the England of West­ gratuitous atmospheric shots of the faces of the old men Taste of Honey just because it has been made. minster and the England only just across the river where the Jimmy and Helena pass in the park; or that calculated last boys live. In A Taste of Honey the only purpose of the shot of Jimmy and Alison, silhouetted on a footbridge at a All the same, if the long-promised revival in British cinema is ever to take place, we ought, I sequence is the creation of a vague “atmosphere” : on the station, lost in a swirl of steam. Or consider the opening of think, to be taking a long, cool look at those films which are “on our side.” What the cinema sound-track a group of children sings “The big ship sails The Entertainer, with Jean seeing off her brother who is needs at the moment is not a liberal nodding of the heads, but a serious critical analysis. Fifteen . .. ”, a song which, before the end of the sequence, is leaving for the Middle East from yet another railway station. years after Italian neo-realism, it is time to stop boggling at pictures of Salford; and three years taken up and orchestrated in a big way. When, as Jo and The whole sequence (which again takes place before the after the first production of Shelagh Delaney’s play the question that must be faced is how far Helen finally get off the bus, a handsome young negro credits) is shot at an angle. (Where have we seen that Tony Richardson has succeeded in finding a film language to communicate the play’s intensely appears from the top deck and helps Jo with the bags, before ?) personal vision. Shelagh Delaney’s work is a remarkable blend of freshness and maturity, and it is suspicion is confirmed. Shelagh Delaney’s swift and oblique against these qualities that Tony Richardson’s film needs to be judged. observation is to be replaced by a heavy-handed literalness, This is the style which imposes itself on the delicate structure with every point over-explained and the emotional truth of Shelagh Delaney’s play and transforms it into a turgid drenched in atmospherics. (Later, Richardson carefully drama of painful obviousness. Nothing must be left to the explains Geof: he is the first customer to whom Jo makes a imagination - we are not even spared the tastelessly em­ sale in the shoe-shop where we are shown her working. Shelagh Delaney’s approach to the theatre is based on a similarly unsentimental note. The Boy kisses Jo. “Don’t do barrassing scene in which Geof goes to the clinic and borrows Shelagh Delaney’s script becomes so perfunctory at this concern for truth and a distrust of the phoney. Her plays are that,” she says. “Why not?” he asks. “I like it,” she a doll. And the camera wanders drearily and predictably point as to suggest an understable lack of interest in the not explanations, but presentations. She presents a series of replies. There is a sudden fade-out, followed by music and from one picturesque location to another. whole idiotic contrivance). images of people - enjoying themselves, being lonely, wedding bells - Helen’s music and Helen’s wedding bells. quarrelling, in love - and the quality of her plays, that fusion And this is the last we see of the Boy in the play. Blackpool is there, of course, even though this means doing This opening sequence is, unfortunately, a useful example of of affection, toughness and affirmation which is so hard to violence to the relationship between Helen and Jo. When Richardson’s approach to cinema. The material is fresh, but Jo protests in the play about Helen leaving her, (“You should put into words, springs from her rigorous concern with the There is, in every scene, a feeling of immediacy. We don’t the language is stale and tired. And on closer investigation prepare my meals like a proper mother”), Helen replies, emotional truth of each image. Nothing is blown up, want to know where Jo met the Boy or Geof. What we are it turns out to be, not the language of a breakthrough, but the characteristically, “Have I ever laid claim to being a proper “dramatised” in the conventional sense of the word, but on interested in is the subtly shifting relationships we see on the language of all that is most orthodox in the British prestige mother?”, and goes. In the film, she lets Jo tag along, then, the other hand there is none of that self-conscious under­ stage. Was Jo’s father really an idiot? It doesn’t matter. film - the language of David Lean. guiltily, her conscience struggling with her selfishness, statement with which dramatists like Rattigan hide their What does matter is Jo’s immediate response to this story. lack of conviction. Instead, there is a simple and direct sends her home by bus. In the play, Helen has no conscience A Taste of Honey is written in a stage idiom that is com­ David Lean stands firmly in the tradition of British film- response to human experience. Not that the experience is and Jo needs no excuse for her actions: here, conscience and pletely fresh. A successful translation to the screen demands making. Extracts from his films are often offered to students itself simple. Shelagh Delaney is sensitive to the slightest excuse are provided, and the moral poise of the original an equally fresh film language. What is the language Tony as examples of the skill of the director. He is equally at changes of mood and feeling. Her dialogue captures with crashes into sentimentality - but meanwhile Richardson has Richardson has, in fact, used ? home with a wide range of material, from Noel Coward to astonishing precision the sudden switches of thought, the Dickens and H. G. Wells, precisely because he has nothing impulsive movements of the mind that make relationships The film opens with a long sequence before and during the personal to bring to his medium. He is a skilful translater alive and dynamic. The texture of her work is very close in RICHARDSON’S FIRST FEATURE: “ LOOK BACK IN ANGER’’ credits. It can be divided into three main parts - Jo at into the picturesque. feeling to that of Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye. There school playing netball, Jo and her mother escaping through is the same feeling of spontaneity, the same exploration of a window from a basement flat, and a long bus-ride to the Take, for instance, the climax of Brief Encounter, a classic immediate impressions, the same gaiety mingled with other side of the town, at the end of which the Black Boy is sequence of the British cinema. A woman and her lover are astringency. The plays are almost staged jazz: not improvised introduced as a stranger who helps Jo to carry the bags. about to part for ever. They sit in a station buffet. A it’s true, but arrangements in a jazz idiom. What is the purpose of this sequence ? The opening shots gossipy friend joins them, spoiling their last conversation. place Jo in her school environment, but much of the point is Presently, Alec leaves to go to another platform to catch his For example, the love affair between Jo and the Black Boy is lost because Richardson calls attention to the camera-work: train. There is a momentary diversion, and the heroine finds presented, not in the form of a logically developing story, but he makes the camera follow the ball itself, crazily, up, down, herself alone. She runs out on to the platform just as an in two brief statements, full of joy and affection and com­ round, across. express is announced. From the opposite platform, Lean pletely devoid of sentimentality. “I’ll be gone soon, too,” photographs her coming out of the buffet, then slowly tilts says the Boy. “What then ?” “My heart’s broke,” Jo replies, the camera. She closes her eyes, and the train rushes in and the Boy adds, “You can lie in bed at night and hear my The episode of the escape from the flat is a more serious front of her at a crazy angle. When the train has gone by, ship passing down the old canal.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Influence of Kitchen Sink Drama in John Osborne's
    IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 23, Issue 9, Ver. 7 (September. 2018) 77-80 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org The Influence of Kitchen Sink Drama In John Osborne’s “ Look Back In Anger” Sadaf Zaman Lecturer University of Bisha Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Corresponding Author: Sadaf Zaman ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Date of Submission:16-09-2018 Date of acceptance: 01-10-2018 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- John Osborne was born in London, England in 1929 to Thomas Osborne, an advertisement writer, and Nellie Beatrice, a working class barmaid. His father died in 1941. Osborne used the proceeds from a life insurance settlement to send himself to Belmont College, a private boarding school. Osborne was expelled after only a few years for attacking the headmaster. He received a certificate of completion for his upper school work, but never attended a college or university. After returning home, Osborne worked several odd jobs before he found a niche in the theater. He began working with Anthony Creighton's provincial touring company where he was a stage hand, actor, and writer. Osborne co-wrote two plays -- The Devil Inside Him and Personal Enemy -- before writing and submittingLook Back in Anger for production. The play, written in a short period of only a few weeks, was summarily rejected by the agents and production companies to whom Osborne first submitted the play. It was eventually picked up by George Devine for production with his failing Royal Court Theater. Both Osborne and the Royal Court Theater were struggling to survive financially and both saw the production of Look Back in Anger as a risk.
    [Show full text]
  • Jessica Lange Regis Dialogue Formatted
    Jessica Lange Regis Dialogue with Molly Haskell, 1997 Bruce Jenkins: Let me say that these dialogues have for the better part of this decade focused on that part of cinema devoted to narrative or dramatic filmmaking, and we've had evenings with actors, directors, cinematographers, and I would say really especially with those performers that we identify with the cutting edge of narrative filmmaking. In describing tonight's guest, Molly Haskell spoke of a creative artist who not only did a sizeable number of important projects but more importantly, did the projects that she herself wanted to see made. The same I think can be said about Molly Haskell. She began in the 1960s working in New York for the French Film Office at that point where the French New Wave needed a promoter and a writer and a translator. She eventually wrote the landmark book From Reverence to Rape on women in cinema from 1973 and republished in 1987, and did sizable stints as the film reviewer for Vogue magazine, The Village Voice, New York magazine, New York Observer, and more recently, for On the Issues. Her most recent book, Holding My Own in No Man's Land, contains her last two decades' worth of writing. I'm please to say it's in the Walker bookstore, as well. Our other guest tonight needs no introduction here in the Twin Cities nor in Cloquet, Minnesota, nor would I say anyplace in the world that motion pictures are watched and cherished. She's an internationally recognized star, but she's really a unique star.
    [Show full text]
  • Programmesiteweb.Pdf
    CALENDRIER 19/09 Amphi D ou Debeyre séance d’introduction APOCALYPSE NOW de Francis Ford Coppola PARTIE I / PROPAGANDE ET IDEOLOGIE 26/09 Amphi D ou Debeyre : ALEXANDRE NEVSKI de Serguei Eisenstein et Dimitri Vasilyev 03/10 Amphi Cassin : Séance spéciale « La Continentale » : 2 films LA CONTINENTAL : LE MYSTERE GREVEN de Claudia Collao (documentaire) LES INCONNUS DANS LA MAISON DE Henri Decoin (fiction) 10/10 Amphi Cassin IVAN LE TERRIBLE de Serguei Eisenstein 17/10 Amphi Cassin Séance spéciale propagande américaine : 2 films OPERATION HOLLYWOOD de Emilio Pacull (documentaire) PATTON de Franklin J. Schaffner PARTIE II / PAMPHLET / SATIRE 24/10 Amphi Cassin THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE ( LA CHARGE DE LA BRIGADE LEGERE de Tony Richardson 31/10 pas de film : pause pédagogique 07/11 Amphi Cassin PATHS OF GLORY (LES SENTIERS DE LA GLOIRE) de Stanley Kubrick 14/11 Amphi D ou Debeyre LA VIE ET RIEN D'AUTRE de Bertrand Tavernier 21/11 Amphi D ou Debeyre : INTOLERANCE de David Wark Griffith 28/11 Amphi Cassin : TO BE OR NOT TO BE ( JEUX DANGEREUX) de Ernst Lubitsch Toutes les séances sont introduites et commentées par le Pr de Carbonnières, Historien du Droit JEUDI 19 SEPTEMBRE 13h30 Amphi D OU DEBEYRE SEANCE D’INTRODUCTION APOCALYPSE NOW de Francis Ford Coppola USA, Version Redux (director’s cut 2001), 3h35 min Scénario : John Milius et Francis Ford Coppola avec Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Marlon Brando … Palme d’Or festival de Cannes , 1979 Synopsis Saïgon, 1969. Le capitaine Benjamin L. Willard, mal rasé et imbibé d'alcool, s'ennuie et est submergé de fantasmes.
    [Show full text]
  • From Free Cinema to British New Wave: a Story of Angry Young Men
    SUPLEMENTO Ideas, I, 1 (2020) 51 From Free Cinema to British New Wave: A Story of Angry Young Men Diego Brodersen* Introduction In February 1956, a group of young film-makers premiered a programme of three documentary films at the National Film Theatre (now the BFI Southbank). Lorenza Mazzetti, Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson thought at the time that “no film can be too personal”, and vehemently said so in their brief but potent manifesto about Free Cinema. Their documentaries were not only personal, but aimed to show the real working class people in Britain, blending the realistic with the poetic. Three of them would establish themselves as some of the most inventive and irreverent British filmmakers of the 60s, creating iconoclastic works –both in subject matter and in form– such as Saturday Day and Sunday Morning, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and If… Those were the first significant steps of a New British Cinema. They were the Big Screen’s angry young men. What is British cinema? In my opinion, it means many different things. National cinemas are much more than only one idea. I would like to begin this presentation with this question because there have been different genres and types of films in British cinema since the beginning. So, for example, there was a kind of cinema that was very successful, not only in Britain but also in America: the films of the British Empire, the films about the Empire abroad, set in faraway places like India or Egypt. Such films celebrated the glory of the British Empire when the British Empire was almost ending.
    [Show full text]
  • A Taste of Honey’- Revision Guide
    ‘A TASTE OF HONEY’- REVISION GUIDE Shelagh Delaney Shelagh Delaney was born November 25, 1939, in Salford, Lancashire, England. Her father, a bus inspector, and her mother were part of the English working class, the social group that informs of her writing. Delaney attended Broughton Secondary School but began writing even before she completed her education. She had no further interest in formal education, and after she left school, she held a number of jobs, including salesgirl, usherette, and clerk. The play ‘A Taste of Honey’ was produced when Delaney was eighteen-years-old. Although this play was originally being written as a novel, it was rewritten as a play in response to Delaney’s dissatisfaction with contemporary theatre. Delaney felt that she could write a better play, with more realistic dialogue, than the plays that were currently being staged. ‘A Taste of Honey’ became an unexpected hit, winning several awards both as a play and later as a film.. Delaney’s play opened to mixed reviews. In many cases, her characters were praised for their honest, realistic voices. The play was also singled out for its accurate depictions of working class lives. Delaney believed in social protest and has not been afraid to speak out on the need for a more realistic theatre, one that depicts the working class environment of many British citizens. Theatre of the Absurd/ Social Drama During the 1950s/ 1960s two types of theatre emerged- ‘absurd’ and ‘social’ drama. The term ‘ absurd’ was supposed to describe life as meaningless and this was a reaction to the mainstream post war theatre about the upper classes.
    [Show full text]
  • British Television's Lost New Wave Moment: Single Drama and Race
    British Television’s Lost New Wave Moment: Single Drama and Race Eleni Liarou Abstract: The article argues that the working-class realism of post-WWII British television single drama is neither as English nor as white as is often implied. The surviving audiovisual material and written sources (reviews, publicity material, biographies of television writers and directors) reveal ITV’s dynamic role in offering a range of views and representations of Britain’s black population and their multi-layered relationship with white working-class cultures. By examining this neglected history of postwar British drama, this article argues for more inclusive historiographies of British television and sheds light on the dynamism and diversity of British television culture. Keywords: TV drama; working-class realism; new wave; representations of race and immigration; TV historiography; ITV history Television scholars have typically seen British television’s late- 1950s/early-1960s single drama, and particularly ITV’s Armchair Theatre strand, as a manifestation of the postwar new wave preoccupation with the English regional working class (Laing 1986; Cooke 2003; Rolinson 2011). This article argues that the working- class realism of this drama strand is neither as English nor as white as is often implied. The surviving audiovisual material and written sources – including programme listings, reviews, scripts, publicity material, biographies of television writers and directors – reveal ITV’s dynamic role in offering a range of representations of Britain’s black population and its relationship to white working-class cultures. More Journal of British Cinema and Television 9.4 (2012): 612–627 DOI: 10.3366/jbctv.2012.0108 © Edinburgh University Press www.eupjournals.com/jbctv 612 British Television’s Lost New Wave Moment particularly, the study of ITV’s single drama about black immigration in this period raises important questions which lie at the heart of postwar debates on commercial television’s lack of commitment to its public service remit.
    [Show full text]
  • A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney in Autumn 2019
    Thursday 7 February 2019 THE NATIONAL THEATRE WILL TOUR A TASTE OF HONEY BY SHELAGH DELANEY IN AUTUMN 2019 A TASTE OF HONEY IS DIRECTED BY BIJAN SHEIBANI AND DESIGNED BY HILDEGARD BECHTLER JODIE PRENGER WILL PLAY HELEN A TASTE OF HONEY WILL TOUR TO NINE VENUES FROM SEPTEMBER, OPENING AT THE LOWRY, SALFORD The National Theatre today announced a UK tour of Bijan Sheibani’s production of A Taste of Honey, Shelagh Delaney’s remarkable taboo-breaking 1950s play, which was first produced in the Lyttelton Theatre in 2014, designed by Hildegard Bechtler and reconceived in an exciting new production, featuring a live on stage band, for the tour. Jodie Prenger (Oliver!, One Man, Two Guvnors, Abigail’s Party UK tour) plays Helen, with further casting to be announced. Written by Shelagh Delaney when she was nineteen, A Taste of Honey offers an explosive celebration of the vulnerabilities and strengths of the female spirit in a deprived and restless world. When her mother 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 leaving her pregnant and alone. Art student Geoff moves in and assumes the role of surrogate parent until, misguidedly, he sends for Helen and their unconventional setup unravels. An exhilarating depiction of working-class life in post-war Salford, A Taste of Honey will open there at The Lowry from 13 – 21 September, with a press night on Friday 20 September. The tour will also visit the Kings Theatre, Edinburgh (24 – 28 September); the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury (1 – 5 October); Richmond Theatre (7 – 12 October); Grand Opera House, Belfast (15 – 19 October); Leicester Curve (22 – 26 October); Theatre Royal, Bath (28 October – 2 November); Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton (5 – 9 November); and the Norwich Theatre Royal (12 – 16 November).
    [Show full text]
  • Palmarès Des Festivals ’69
    Document generated on 10/01/2021 11:18 p.m. Séquences La revue de cinéma Palmarès des festivals ’69 Regard sur le cinéme actuel I Number 58, October 1969 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/51563ac See table of contents Publisher(s) La revue Séquences Inc. ISSN 0037-2412 (print) 1923-5100 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this document (1969). Palmarès des festivals ’69. Séquences, (58), 35–35. Tous droits réservés © La revue Séquences Inc., 1969 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ ;f PALMARÈS DES FESTIVALS '69 CANNES Luis Egea et Victor Erice (Espa­ Grand Prix : lf, de Lindsay An­ gne). derson (Grande-Bretagne). Prix spécial : Une Femme dou­ Grand Prix spécial du jury : Les ce, de Robert Bresson (France). Troubles d'Adalen, de Bo Wider­ Prix d'interprétation féminine berg (Suède). (ex aequo) : Ludmila Tchoursina Prix du jury : Z, de Costa Ga­ dans Ciquenita (Les petites Cigo­ vras (France). gnes), de Nikolai Moskalenko Prix de la mise en scène (ex (U.R.S.S.) et Stefania Sandrelli aequo) : Antonio-Das-Mortes, de dans L'Amante di Gramigna, de Glauber Rocha (Brésil) et Chro­ Carlo Lizzani (Italie).
    [Show full text]
  • Tastes of Honey : the Making of Shelagh Delaney and a Cultural Revolution Pdf, Epub, Ebook
    TASTES OF HONEY : THE MAKING OF SHELAGH DELANEY AND A CULTURAL REVOLUTION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Professor Selina Todd | 304 pages | 29 Aug 2019 | Vintage Publishing | 9781784740825 | English | London, United Kingdom Tastes of Honey : The Making of Shelagh Delaney and a Cultural Revolution PDF Book Jo becomes pregnant after a short-lived relationship with a black seafarer and during her pregnancy finds friendship and support from her gay friend Geoffrey. The downbeat tale of a young woman's pregnancy following a one-night stand with a black sailor, and her supportive relationship with a gay artist, verged on scandalous, but the play had successful runs in London and New York. View previous newsletters. That bombed; in contrast, her supporters advanced — above all, perhaps, when her disciple Tony Warren went on to create the Delaney-flavoured Coronation Street for Granada in even though she refused to write for the soap. Jocelyn Chatterton rated it it was amazing Jan 08, To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Facebook Twitter Pinterest. Down in London, the advent of the Look Back in Anger generation John Osborne and Arnold Wesker above all signalled that outsiders might now barge through a few hallowed portals of drama. Paul rated it really liked it Dec 14, Jo also begins a relationship with her first love, a black sailor. Characteristics: pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations some color ; 23 cm. Jad Adams. Paul Robinson rated it it was amazing Mar 24, With its two generations of single mothers, its relaxed acceptance of black and gay characters, its frank and funny challenge to the prevailing taboos of race, class and sexuality, the play and its reception both marked a social upheaval, and played a major part in pushing it into fresh territory.
    [Show full text]
  • Shail, Robert, British Film Directors
    BRITISH FILM DIRECTORS INTERNATIONAL FILM DIRECTOrs Series Editor: Robert Shail This series of reference guides covers the key film directors of a particular nation or continent. Each volume introduces the work of 100 contemporary and historically important figures, with entries arranged in alphabetical order as an A–Z. The Introduction to each volume sets out the existing context in relation to the study of the national cinema in question, and the place of the film director within the given production/cultural context. Each entry includes both a select bibliography and a complete filmography, and an index of film titles is provided for easy cross-referencing. BRITISH FILM DIRECTORS A CRITI Robert Shail British national cinema has produced an exceptional track record of innovative, ca creative and internationally recognised filmmakers, amongst them Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and David Lean. This tradition continues today with L GUIDE the work of directors as diverse as Neil Jordan, Stephen Frears, Mike Leigh and Ken Loach. This concise, authoritative volume analyses critically the work of 100 British directors, from the innovators of the silent period to contemporary auteurs. An introduction places the individual entries in context and examines the role and status of the director within British film production. Balancing academic rigour ROBE with accessibility, British Film Directors provides an indispensable reference source for film students at all levels, as well as for the general cinema enthusiast. R Key Features T SHAIL • A complete list of each director’s British feature films • Suggested further reading on each filmmaker • A comprehensive career overview, including biographical information and an assessment of the director’s current critical standing Robert Shail is a Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Wales Lampeter.
    [Show full text]
  • A Taste of Honey
    A TASTE OF HONEY 21 JULY - 19 AUGUST 2018 LEARNING RESOURCES Belvoir presents A TASTE OF HONEY By SHELAGH DELANEY Directed by EAMON FLACK This production of A Taste of Honey opened at Belvoir St Theatre on Wednesday 25 July 2018. Set & Costume Designer MEL PAGE Lighting Designer DAMIEN COOPER Composer & Sound Designer STEFAN GREGORY Movement Director KATE CHAMPION Fight Coordinator NIGEL POULTON Stage Manager LUKE McGETTIGAN Assistant Stage Manager JULIA ORLANDO Directing Observer ELIZABETH NABBEN NIDA Design Secondments KELSEY LEE & ROSE MONTGOMERY With TAYLOR FERGUSON THUSO LEKWAPE GENEVIEVE LEMON JOSH McCONVILLE TOM ANSON MESKER A Taste of Honey is supported by the Nelson Meers Foundation We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation who are the traditional custodians of the land on which Belvoir St Theatre is built. We also pay respect to the Elders past and present, and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. CONTENTS About Belvoir 1 Cast and Creative Team 2 Director's Note 3 About the Writer 5 A Taste of Honey Timeline 6 Rehearsing A Taste of Honey 7 Production Elements 11 Examining the Script 15 Post Show Discussion 17 Podcast 21 Contact Education 22 Rehearsal & Production Photos / Brett Boardman 2018 Cover Image / Daniel Boud 2017 Learning Resources compiled by Belvoir’ Education, July 2018 ABOUT BELVOIR One building. Six hundred people. Thousands of stories. When the Nimrod Theatre building in Belvoir Street, Surry Hills, was threatened with redevelopment in 1984, more than 600 people – ardent theatre lovers together with arts, entertainment and media professionals – formed a syndicate to buy the building and save this unique performance space in inner city Sydney.
    [Show full text]
  • The White Bus
    THE WHITE BUS “There’s never been an age In his preface to Lindsay Anderson’s Diaries, his leading man of choice Malcolm McDowell called The like the one we’re living in.” White Bus “an incredible film that stands alone was a Mayor Blunt (Arthur Lowe) great work of art, but which served as a master’s sketch for the big painting on canvas... It is brilliant, and it is quite unlike any British film that had been made before it.” The “big painting” to which McDowell refers is O Lucky Man! (1973), the middle section of Anderson’s state-of-the-nation trilogy which began with Cannes winner if... (1969) and was completed by Britannia Hospital (1981). But the ideas and moods of all three films can be found in tantalising embryo within The White Bus. This 47-minute marvel follows a nameless young woman (Patricia Healey) who flees her London desk-job for Manchester, where she takes a somewhat bizarre civic tour on the eponymous conveyance that encompasses industry, education and culture. The droll, episodic screenplay saw Anderson collaborate with A Taste of Honey’s Shelagh Delaney, adapting the latter’s short story into a comic/ sinister fable that packs more layers and concepts into its brisk running-time than the vast majority of feature-length films. The sense of viewing 1960s Great Britain through unfamiliar, even alien eyes is partly explained by the presence behind the camera of the great Czech cinematographer Miroslav Ondrícek, in the first of his three collaborations with Anderson. Ondrícek’s vision of Manchester—which alternates between monochrome and colour film—is that of a grand, darkly gothic, strangely deserted metropolis, sometimes oneiric and sometimes apocalyptic, which our near-silent, unflappable, observantly wide-eyed heroine navigates as if in the throes of an out-of-body experience.
    [Show full text]