a taste of honey, synopsis

Jo is the teenage daughter of a promiscuous, alcoholic mother, Helen. Together they spend their time drifting through various bed sits. When Helen and her latest boyfriend Peter take a brief holiday at the seaside town of Blackpool, Jo finds herself unwanted and wanders around the docks and meets Jimmy. Jimmy is a black sailor on brief shore leave, Jo spends the night with him before he sets sail the following morning. Jo arrives home later and discovers that her mother and Peter have impetuously married, and that Jo must find a room of her own.

Jo gains a job working in a shoe store and meets shop assistant Geoffrey, a sensitive homosexual who needs a place to stay. The price of a flat proves too much for Jo alone, so she allows him to be her room-mate. Geoff and Jo are both lost souls and find perfect company with each other.

Jo soon realises that she's pregnant due to her casual affair with Jimmy. Geoffrey is elated at the thought of the baby and plunges himself into the role of surrogate father to the child. He knits baby clothes, tidies up the residence to await the birth of the child and even offers to marry Jo so the unborn child will have a name. Jo declines and becomes increasingly depressed. Geoffrey is worried about her condition and tells her mother what's happening, but Helen couldn't care less - until her new husband abandons her.

With nowhere else to go, Helen moves in with Geoffrey and Jo. It isn't long before Jo’s hateful mother asserts herself and, over her daughter’s protests, tosses Geoffrey back out on the street.
The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie is a poetic drama centering on a depression era family living in St. Louis. Each character in the play lives in an illusory world that collides disastrously with reality, a reality without a father in the house and with little hope. Laura has a slight physical disability that has left her socially paralyzed, unable to even attend a business college without incident. Amanda escapes her current situation by remembering her days as a Southern Belle, and Tom lives out the adventure and excitement missing from his real life by constant trips to the movies.

Amanda attempts to salvage their situation by finding a husband for Laura, and encourages Tom to invite a nice young man from the warehouse over for dinner to meet Laura. Tom finally does this, and Amanda sets off into a whirlwind of preparations. When the gentleman caller arrives, he turns out to be a high school crush who figures prominently in Laura's dream world. Laura is sick with nerves and is unable to come to the table. A power outage occurs at the end of dinner and Jim offers to check on Laura.

The final scene takes place in candlelight as Jim encourages Laura to find her way in the world and not be so preoccupied with her physical differences. He tells her she's pretty and dances with her, accidentally breaking a piece of her precious glass collection. This proves to be an ominous portent as Jim, after kissing Laura, reveals that he is happily engaged and must leave to pick up his fiancée at the train station. Laura's world is shattered by this revelation, and Amanda rails at Tom for bringing an engaged man to meet Laura. In a fury, Tom storms out of the house never to return.

The final moments of the play find Amanda attempting to comfort her daughter while Tom tells the audience of his wandering life after leaving his mother and sister. He cannot, however, forgive himself for what he did to Laura and is haunted by his inability to rescue her from her private world.