Shelagh Delaney
Encyclopedia
Shelagh Delaney, FRSL
(25 November 1938 – 20 November 2011) was an English dramatist and screenwriter, best-known for her debut work, A Taste of Honey
(1958).
Born in Broughton
, Salford, Lancashire
, the daughter of a bus inspector, Of Irish descent, she failed the eleven plus exam four times, but transferred to a grammar school at the age of fifteen from a secondary modern school
, gaining five O-levels. Thinking she could do better than Terence Rattigan
's Variations on a Theme, a play she had seen at Manchester's Opera House
during its pre-West End tour,
Delaney wrote her first play, in ten days, partly because she felt the work showed "insensitivity in the way Rattigan portrayed homosexuals". Her play was accepted by Joan Littlewood
's Theatre Workshop
. "Quite apart from its meaty content, we believe we have found a real dramatist", Gerry Raffles of Theatre Workshop said at the time.
A Taste of Honey, first performed on 27 May 1958, is set in her native Salford."I had strong ideas about what I wanted to see in the theatre. We used to object to plays where the factory workers came cap in hand and call the boss 'sir'. Usually North Country people are shown as gormless, whereas in actual fact, they are very alive and cynical."
Reuniting the original cast, the play subsequently enjoyed a run of 368 performances in the West End from January 1959; it was also seen on Broadway, with Joan Plowright
as Jo and Angela Lansbury
as her mother. It is "probably the most performed play by a post-war British woman playwright".
Breaking new ground in touching on issues like homosexuality "this earthily realistic, moving story of a reluctant teenage mother-to-be ... raises issues which were later to become prime concerns of feminist writers." Delaney's second play The Lion in Love followed in 1960. This work "portrays an impoverished family, whose income comes from peddling trinkets", but "the best qualities of the first play are absent."
Novelist Jeanette Winterson
though, has commented that the contemporary reviews of these first two plays' first performances "read like a depressing essay in sexism". Sweetly Sings the Donkey, a collection of short stories, appeared in 1963.
The screenplay of the 1961 film version
of A Taste of Honey, which she co-wrote with director Tony Richardson
, "contrives to keep in Delaney's best lines while creating a cinematic, rather than a theatrical experience". It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award in 1962. Delaney's other screenplays include The White Bus
, Charlie Bubbles
(both 1967) and Dance with a Stranger
(1985). She also wrote several radio plays, Tell Me a Film (2003), Country Life (2004) and Whoopi Goldberg's Country Life, which was broadcast in The Afternoon Play
slot on BBC Radio 4
in June 2010.
In 1985, Delaney was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
.
, England. She is survived by her daughter and three grandchildren.
' lead singer and lyricist Morrissey
. In 1986, Morrissey said, "I've never made any secret of the fact that at least 50 per cent of my reason for writing can be blamed on Shelagh Delaney." Many of Morrissey's lyrics were lifted directly from Delaney's plays, notably A Taste of Honey. The lyrics of The Smiths
's "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" are a retelling of the plot of A Taste of Honey, using many direct quotes from the play. Morrissey chose a photo of Delaney as the artwork on the album cover for his band's 1987 compilation album, Louder Than Bombs
.
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
(25 November 1938 – 20 November 2011) was an English dramatist and screenwriter, best-known for her debut work, A Taste of Honey
A Taste of Honey
A Taste of Honey is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 18. It was initially intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalize British theatre and to address social issues that she felt were not being presented...
(1958).
Born in Broughton
Broughton, Greater Manchester
Broughton is an inner city area of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the east bank of the River Irwell and A56 road, in the northeastern part of the City of Salford, north-northwest of Manchester city centre and south of Prestwich. Broughton consists of Broughton Park, Higher...
, Salford, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, the daughter of a bus inspector, Of Irish descent, she failed the eleven plus exam four times, but transferred to a grammar school at the age of fifteen from a secondary modern school
Secondary modern school
A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed in most of the United Kingdom from 1944 until the early 1970s, under the Tripartite System, and was designed for the majority of pupils - those who do not achieve scores in the top 25% of the eleven plus examination...
, gaining five O-levels. Thinking she could do better than Terence Rattigan
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
's Variations on a Theme, a play she had seen at Manchester's Opera House
Manchester Opera House
The Opera House in Quay Street, Manchester, England is a 1,920 seater commercial touring theatre which plays host to touring musicals, ballet, concerts and a Christmas pantomime. It is the sister to the Palace Theatre which is a similar venue in nearby Oxford Street at its junction with Whitworth...
during its pre-West End tour,
Delaney wrote her first play, in ten days, partly because she felt the work showed "insensitivity in the way Rattigan portrayed homosexuals". Her play was accepted by Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
's Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...
. "Quite apart from its meaty content, we believe we have found a real dramatist", Gerry Raffles of Theatre Workshop said at the time.
A Taste of Honey, first performed on 27 May 1958, is set in her native Salford."I had strong ideas about what I wanted to see in the theatre. We used to object to plays where the factory workers came cap in hand and call the boss 'sir'. Usually North Country people are shown as gormless, whereas in actual fact, they are very alive and cynical."
Reuniting the original cast, the play subsequently enjoyed a run of 368 performances in the West End from January 1959; it was also seen on Broadway, with Joan Plowright
Joan Plowright
Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...
as Jo and Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
as her mother. It is "probably the most performed play by a post-war British woman playwright".
Breaking new ground in touching on issues like homosexuality "this earthily realistic, moving story of a reluctant teenage mother-to-be ... raises issues which were later to become prime concerns of feminist writers." Delaney's second play The Lion in Love followed in 1960. This work "portrays an impoverished family, whose income comes from peddling trinkets", but "the best qualities of the first play are absent."
Novelist Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson OBE is a British novelist.-Early years:Winterson was born in Manchester and adopted on 21 January 1960. She was raised in Accrington, Lancashire, by Constance and John William Winterson...
though, has commented that the contemporary reviews of these first two plays' first performances "read like a depressing essay in sexism". Sweetly Sings the Donkey, a collection of short stories, appeared in 1963.
The screenplay of the 1961 film version
A Taste of Honey (film)
A Taste of Honey is a 1961 British film adaptation of the play of the same name by Shelagh Delaney. Delaney adapted the screenplay herself, aided by director Tony Richardson, who had previously directed the first production of the play...
of A Taste of Honey, which she co-wrote with director Tony Richardson
Tony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson was an English theatre and film director and producer.-Early life:Richardson was born in Shipley, Yorkshire in 1928, the son of Elsie Evans and Clarence Albert Richardson, a chemist...
, "contrives to keep in Delaney's best lines while creating a cinematic, rather than a theatrical experience". It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award in 1962. Delaney's other screenplays include The White Bus
The White Bus
The White Bus is a 1967 short film by British director Lindsay Anderson. The screenplay was jointly adapted with Shelagh Delaney from a short story in her 1963 collection Sweetly Sings the Donkey....
, Charlie Bubbles
Charlie Bubbles
Charlie Bubbles is a British film of 1967 starring Billie Whitelaw and Albert Finney, and also featuring a young Liza Minnelli. It was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was cancelled due to the events of May 1968 in France.The film made great play of its...
(both 1967) and Dance with a Stranger
Dance with a Stranger
Dance with a Stranger is a 1985 British drama film, directed by Mike Newell. Telling the story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain in the fifties, this moving biographical British film won critical acclaim, and brought particular notice to the careers of both Miranda Richardson...
(1985). She also wrote several radio plays, Tell Me a Film (2003), Country Life (2004) and Whoopi Goldberg's Country Life, which was broadcast in The Afternoon Play
The Afternoon Play
The Afternoon Play is a series of individual plays which sometimes appear on BBC One during weekday afternoons. The first series began on 27 January 2003, and as of 2008 there have been five series...
slot on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
in June 2010.
In 1985, Delaney was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
.
Death
Delaney died from breast cancer and heart failure, five days before her 73rd birthday, at the home of her daughter Charlotte in SuffolkSuffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England. She is survived by her daughter and three grandchildren.
Influence on Morrissey
Delaney is cited as having been a great influence on The SmithsThe Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
' lead singer and lyricist Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
. In 1986, Morrissey said, "I've never made any secret of the fact that at least 50 per cent of my reason for writing can be blamed on Shelagh Delaney." Many of Morrissey's lyrics were lifted directly from Delaney's plays, notably A Taste of Honey. The lyrics of The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
's "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" are a retelling of the plot of A Taste of Honey, using many direct quotes from the play. Morrissey chose a photo of Delaney as the artwork on the album cover for his band's 1987 compilation album, Louder Than Bombs
Louder Than Bombs
Louder Than Bombs is a compilation album by the English rock band The Smiths. It was released as a double album in March 1987 by their American record company, Sire Records. Its highest chart position was number 63. Popular demand prompted their British record company, Rough Trade, to issue the...
.
External links
- Encyclopedia entry for Delaney
- The Orlando Project
- "Shelagh Delaney -writer, sayle screen website - list of Delaney's works
- Shelagh Delaney's Salford (1960 film)