Difference between revisions 321666909 and 324197538 on enwiki

[[Image:Girlfriend in a Coma.png|thumb|right|Delaney was featured twice on [[The Smiths|Smiths]] record sleeves, including this one for their 1987 single, "Girlfriend in a Coma".]]
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'''Shelagh Delaney, FRSL''' (born [[25 November]] [[1939]]), 1939) is a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[playwright]], best known for her debut work, ''[[A Taste of Honey]]''.

Delaney is oOf [[Irish people|Irish]] descent.  B, she was born in [[Broughton, Greater Manchester|Broughton]], [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]], [[Lancashire]], she attended three different primary schools. After failing the [[Eleven plus exam|eleven-plus examination]] to qualify for grammar school, she went to Broughton Secondary School, where she saw her first stage production, an amateur performance of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Othello]]''. She was twelve at the time and the play made a lasting impression. 

Delaney proved to be a late developer and she''[[Othello]]'' at the age of 12.

Delaney eventually transferred to the local grammar school where she had a record of fair achievement. She left school at seventeen for a succession of jobs in [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]], which included shop assistant, milk-depot clerk, and usherette. Her driving ambition was always to write.

At age seventeen Delaney began ''[[A Taste of Honey]]'' as a [[novel]], but soon realised that it would work better as a [[Play (theatre)|play]]. It focuses on a teen-aged [[working-class]] girl who refuses to conform to her dreary surroundings. The play portrays the lives of typical workers in the north of England in an inventive way.

''A Taste of Honey'' was accepted by [[Joan Littlewood]], [[theatre director|artistic director]] of the [[Theatre Workshop]], who strongly believed that plays should be about ordinary people. It opened at the [[Theatre Royal Stratford East]] in [[London]] on [[27 May]] [[  1958]], and on [[10 February]] [[  1959]], transferred to [[Wyndham's Theatre]] in the [[West End theatre|West End]], where it enjoyed a long run and won several awards. On [[4 October]] [[  1960]] the play opened at [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]'s [[Lyceum Theatre (Broadway)|Lyceum Theatre]] with a cast including [[Joan Plowright]], [[Angela Lansbury]], and [[Billy Dee Williams]].

Two years later, Delaney co-wrote the adaptation for the [[A Taste of Honey (film)|film version]], with director [[Tony Richardson]], which starred [[Rita Tushingham]] and [[Dora Bryan]] and won Delaney and Richardson a [[BAFTA Award]] for Best British Screenplay. The film was one of the key films of the [[British New Wave]] of cinema.

She has written a collection of [[short stories]] ''Sweetly Sings the Donkey'', several television plays, including ''Did your Nanny Come from Bergen?'' (1970), and ''St Martin's Summer'' (1974), award-winning scripts such as ''[[Charlie Bubbles]]'' (1967) and ''[[Dance with a Stranger]]'' (1985), and radio plays such as ''So Does the Nightingale'' (1980), but Delaney has not repeated the level of success she did with her first play. 

In 1985, Delaney was made a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]].⏎
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Her works have formed the inspiration for several songs written by the British [[singer]]/[[songwriter]] [[Morrissey]], and she featured on the sleeves of the ''[[Louder Than Bombs]]'' [[album]] and "[[Girlfriend in a Coma (song)|Girlfriend in a Coma]]" [[Single (music)|single]] by his band, [[The Smiths]].

==Honours==
In 1985, Delaney was made a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]].

==Family==⏎
She has one daughter, Charlotte, born in 1964 in London.

==References and external links==
{{Reflist}}
*[http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/timelines/women.php?year=3&syear=5& Theatre Museum profile]

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{{Persondata
|NAME              = Delaney, Shelagh
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES = 
|SHORT DESCRIPTION = British playwright
|DATE OF BIRTH     = [[25 November 25]], [[1939]]
|PLACE OF BIRTH    = [[Broughton, Greater Manchester|Broughton]], [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]]
|DATE OF DEATH     = 
|PLACE OF DEATH    = ⏎
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}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Delaney, Shelagh}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:British dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:British people of Irish descent]]⏎
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Broughton]]⏎
[[Category:People from Salford]]

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