Being a woman in the 1950s doesn’t sound all that great. I’m shuddering at the thought of donning marigolds and a floral apron – the term ‘1950s housewife’ seems synonymous with domestic drudgery. However, not all was lost back in the post-war era. A Taste of Honey, written by Shelagh Delaney when she was just 19, smashes through numerous taboos that had been neatly safety-pinned in place, ushering in a new era of ‘kitchen-sink’ realism in British theatre (and providing Morrissey with an album’s-worth of stolen quotes). Her defining work is coming to the National Theatre for a three-month run. Starring TV stalwart Lesley Sharp and Kate O’Flynn (Happy-Go-Lucky, Up There), this is a play that will treat you to love, humour and an insight into the determination needed to be of the fairer sex in post-war Salford.

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