"Look at that rain. It’s not even proper rain, is it? It’s just... dampness with an attitude. Everything in this city is secondhand—even the weather. (She turns away from the window, pacing the small space)
For a report on A Taste of Honey monologues, focus on the raw, working-class realism that defines Shelagh Delaney's 1958 masterpiece. The play is a cornerstone of the "kitchen sink" drama movement, offering gritty, witty, and unsentimental explorations of race, class, and single motherhood in postwar Britain. Notable Monologues for Auditions a taste of honey monologue new
Jo is a romantic. She references "blasted heaths"—a nod to the gothic literature she likely reads (think Wuthering Heights or King Lear). She treats her poverty and isolation as a dramatic aesthetic. She wants to control her narrative. If she chooses to be solitary and cold, then her loneliness is a choice, not a consequence of being abandoned. "Look at that rain
To understand the power of this monologue, one must understand the claustrophobia of Jo’s life. The play opens with Helen and Jo moving into a grim, drafty flat. Helen is a boisterous, selfish "good-time girl" who drinks too much and moves from man to man. Jo, her teenage daughter, is the polar opposite: sharp, artistic, anxious, and deeply observant. dampness with an attitude
: In her Act 2 monologues, a visibly pregnant Jo reflects on her need to "slave away" for herself to pay for her flat, emphasizing her fierce desire for independence from her neglectful mother, Helen.
Are you preparing this monologue for an audition or drama school? Focus on the irony. The directors have seen a thousand weepy Jos. Give them the one who smiles when her world collapses. That is the one they will remember.