Another taste of honey: Shelagh Delaney’s long-lost play about a teenage truant is a little gem
Shelagh Delaney’s previously unknown 30-minute play, *Catch Me Who Can*, has been discovered by her daughter and adapted into an audio drama. Centring on a teenage truant’s confrontation with her maths teacher, it explores the tension between order and discipline on one hand, and freedom and self-expression on the other, while reinforcing that Delaney’s writing extended well beyond *A Taste of Honey*.
The play was found after Delaney’s death in 2011 and draws on her daughter Charlotte’s experience of running away from home and school for three days in 1978. Toby Jones plays the teacher, Ivy Sheehan plays the runaway Hattie and Rita Tushingham, who starred in the film version of *A Taste of Honey*, appears as an itinerant woman. The drama also evokes the social tensions of 1970s London, including the IRA, Vietnamese refugees and Rock Against Racism, and has been praised for its natural dialogue and performances.
- A long-lost Delaney play has become a compelling audio drama.
- It dramatises a teenager’s clash with authority after running away.
- The work recalls Delaney’s sharp dialogue and social insight.