THE HANGOVER REPORT – The Pearl opens its season with a curious revival of Shelagh Delaney’s rarely-performed A TASTE OF HONEY

Rachel Botchan and Rebekah Brockman in "A Taste of Honey" at the Pearl

Rachel Botchan and Rebekah Brockman in “A Taste of Honey” at the Pearl

The Pearl Theatre Company opened its season yesterday with a curious revival of Shelagh Delaney’s rarely-performed A Taste of Honey directed by Austin Pendleton. Written in 1958 when Ms. Delaney was just 18, A Taste of Honey tells the turbulent story of Jo, a troubled teenager who gets pregnant by a black sailor, and her unreliable, egotistical mother, Helen. During one of Helen’s “hiatuses” from her daughter, Jo meets Peter, a gay art student, who just might be able to provide Jo the stability she needs.

Lots of ground is covered in Ms. Delaney’s play – sex and sexuality, gender, abuse, etc. – and in her young hands, not all the seams are very skillfully hidden, especially from contemporary audiences’ eyes. It’s a tough play that’s needs a tough production to mask its melodramatic aspects. Unfortunately, Mr. Pendleton’s production gives the play a bizarrely light, almost comic, throw-away touch (including the head-scratching presence of an onstage jazz trio that interacts with the actors) that works against the play.

His actors do a valiant job, however. Rebekah Brockman bravely makes for an unlikeable Jo, as she should be. Rachel Botchan nails the mock-glam of Helen via Blanche DuBois. As the two young men in Jo’s life, both Bradford Cover (as Peter) and Ade Otukoya (as the sailor, Jimmy) do fine, nuanced work. The set, by D&D Productions, admirably calls to mind Zeffirelli’s dumpy digs in the Met’s iconic production of La bohéme.

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A TASTE OF HONEY
Off-Broadway, Play
The Pearl Theatre Company
2 hours, 20 minutes (with one intermission)
Through October 30

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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