It has been announced that Jill Halfpenny (The Long Shadow, ITV; The Cuckoo, Channel 5) has been cast as Helen in Shelagh Delaney’s iconic play A Taste of Honey, which plays at Manchester’s Royal Exchange from 15 March-13 April.

In director Emma Baggott’s new production of this stunningly observed play, Halfpenny will be joined by Rowan Robinson (Passenger, ITVX) as Helen’s daughter Josephine, with David Moorst (To Kill a Mockingbird, West End) as Geoffery, Obadiah (recent graduate) as Jimmie, and Andrew Sheridan (The Couple Next Door, Channel 4) as Peter. The play’s exceptional dialogue is heightened by a beautiful jazz score performed by Nishla Smith as the Jazz Singer.

This is a stunning portrayal of the intricate relationship between a mother and daughter in the late 1950s both waiting and hoping for that taste of honey.

Helen has done it again, another fly-by-night flit dragging Jo from one Salford flat to another, only this time she has out done herself giving her daughter panoramic views of the slaughterhouse. But Jo can feel her Mum’s restlessness, another man will appear and lure her away and Jo will be left to fend for herself, so when Jimmie offers to stay for Christmas Jo is swept up in his charm and the promise of escape - no matter how precarious that may be.

The creative team includes designer Peter Butler, lighting designer Simisola Majekodunmi, sound designer George Dennis, orchestrator and arranger Alexandra Faye Braithwaite, movement director Sarita Piotrowski, and casting director Annelie Powell CDG.

For more information, please click here.