Charlotte Delaney at Working Class Movement Library
Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
Salford-born playwright and Morrissey favourite Shelagh Delaney shot to fame in the late 50s with kitchen-sink drama A Taste of Honey, which, revolutionary for the time, put women and women’s issues centre stage. Written when she was just 18, Shelagh’s take on life in the grim North reached a wider audience when it hit the big screen in the early 60s. Following in her footsteps, Shelagh’s daughter Charlotte is premiering Sweet Responsibility, about friendship and activism between two 70-something women in Greater Manchester. This is the first reading in the UK of the play, being undertaken by MaD Theatre Company, a charity that runs affordable drama workshops for disadvantaged young people and adults in the region. The play was inspired to a certain extent by a rail journey across the States that Charlotte took earlier this year, retracing the tracks of her mother, who took the trip in 1972. She was accompanied by historian and author Selina Todd, who is writing the biography of Shelagh Delaney, and who is in conversation with Charlotte as part of the event.
