[First produced in 1958, A Taste of Honey] is as alive and moving and real today as it will be forever. (p. 60)

It is a gutsy play, full of rowdy impertinence and genuinely comic indignation. Its characters, even the weakest, have enough spine for a brontosaurus, which doesn't stop them from getting temporarily discouraged and bitter. But their sense of humor prevails, and their loving quarrels with life and one another are full of wry, understated heroism. Helen's ghastly hats are worn as bravely into the fray of scrambling ahead as Achilles's helmet was to the Trojan battlements. Jo's rough-hewn, slightly dented innocence shines with tomboyish dauntlessness: This kid is fierce and funny, rolling her vulnerability into a ball and bouncing it off anything and anyone. Even Helen's worthless Peter is as absurd as he is mean and menacing, and can be cut down with a sharp laugh. Geof...