Kenneth Tynan of The Observer was the first to truly celebrate the play, praising its unflinching honesty: "Miss Delaney brings real people on to her stage, joking and flaring and scuffling and eventually, out of the zest for life she gives them, surviving." While other reviews resisted the idea that any 19 year old could honestly speak to reality ("this young author knows as much about adult behavior as she does about elephants"), Tynan instead described Delaney as a portent, a sign of things to come.
There's no question that the nation was experiencing an undercurrent of resistance to the dominant post-war optimism, and many longed to hear expressed the realities of unemployment, poverty and urban decay. Even the simple troubles of Jo and her companions, such as damp apartments and dripping rain, recalled the everyday condition of many English citizens-the same 1931 survey that exposed the slums of Salford noted that over a quarter of the city's homes suffered leaking roofs. For audience members, the play was a welcome acknowledgement of the country's suffering, and a long-overdue platform for otherwise silent voices. But it was also a story told with laughter and sensitivity.
Sometimes this laughter appears as a coping mechanism against their abject conditions. For example, when Jo asked her mother about the bed in their new apartment, Helen replies, "Like a coffin only not half as comfortable." But sometimes it's even simpler; sometimes their laughter is just the joy of companionship. The last uninterrupted dialogue between Jo and Geof strips bare their feelings for each other in an exchange filled with as much humor as honesty:
GEOF: Oh well, you need somebody to love you while you're looking for someone to love.
JO: Oh Geof, you'd make a funny father. You are a funny little man. I mean that. You're unique.
GEOF: Am I?
JO: I always want to have you with me because I know you'll never ask anything from me. Where are you going?
GEOF: To see the cake.
JO: I'll set the cups and we'll have a celebration, then you'll have to study for your exams. It's a bit daft talking about getting married, isn't it? We're already married. We've been married for a thousand years.
GEOF: Here, look at that. What are you going to call it?
JO: What, the cake?
GEOF: [laughing] No, Jo, the baby.
JO: I think I'll give it to you, Geof. You like babies, don't you? I might call it Number One. It'll always be number one to itself.
While Jo is clearly the same girl who moments before said: "We don't ask for life, we have it thrust upon us", she is not surrendering, or moping, or ignoring the facts. She and Geof are clear about their relationship with each other and their stations in life, and despite any shortcomings, the two are generous with the riches that they do have. It's a distinction that reassured viewers who were aware of the realities of working class life in England, and captivated anyone that was unfamiliar with it. As one critic explained this realization: "Although A Taste of Honey is disillusioned, it is not dispiriting."
After a strong run in London, the play came to America, where it enjoyed an even greater success, unhindered by the national pride that divided English audiences. The New York Times reviewed A Taste of Honey the day after its Broadway debut, celebrating the play without restraint: "Miss Delaney's achievement is remarkable. Her play does not seem to be constructed. It unfolds with the naturalness and apparent irrelevancy of daily living. Yet it adds up to a consistent view of the human predicament." A longer, follow-up article in the Times declared in its opening sentence: "The freshest talent revealed on Broadway thus far this season belongs to Shelagh Delaney," and went on to praise the play's "energetic honesty" and "bittersweet humanity."
The following year, a film version of A Taste of Honey was produced, directed by Tony Richardson who co-wrote the script with Shelagh Delaney. The film reached achieved even greater distinction, winning the 1961 British Academy Award for Best Film, with both Rita Tushingham (Jo) and Murray Melvin (Geoffrey) receiving best actor prizes at the Cannes Film Festival.
As even the earliest reviews predicted (in 1960, The Times wrote, "A Taste of Honey will remain impressive"), the play has retained the public's attention and remained in production for half a century. In the early 80s, the play underwent an especially strong revival, during which one reviewer observed was due in part to the fact that, "A Taste of Honey, with essentially no plot and no topical references, has survived the changes in theatre and society in the last twenty years."