That's love, isn't it? You spend your whole life terrified of the sting. You wear the armor. You learn to run. And then one day, someone hands you a plastic bee on a broken chain, and you pin it to your chest anyway. You let them in. You let them leave the toothbrush.

Performance notes: This monologue runs approximately 2-3 minutes. Pauses are essential. The shift from self-mockery to genuine pain should be subtle—Jo is smart enough to see her own absurdity, but young enough to feel everything anyway.

If you choose a monologue from A Taste of Honey , keep these technical and creative adjustments in mind to elevate your performance:

This isn't Shakespeare. You are likely moving around a cramped, messy space. Use "stage business"—folding laundry, making tea, or looking out a window—to ground your performance. The domestic boredom is part of Jo's character. 3. Find the Humor

But the audience feels the fragility beneath the bravado. Delaney never allows Jo’s monologues to become self-pitying. Instead, they are sharp, funny, and devastatingly clear-eyed. Jo knows her situation is grim, but she refuses to perform misery for pity.

Look at this. Cheap, right? Little gold-painted bee. The clasp broke the second I took it out the box. He said it reminded him of me. Busy little bee. Ha. Busy getting stung, more like.

This piece is written for the character of Jo, a fiercely defensive yet deeply vulnerable teenage girl living in a bleak, rented flat in Salford. In this imagined moment, she is heavily pregnant, alone, and reflecting on her mother’s abandonment and her own terrifying transition into motherhood. A Taste of Honey

The setting—a "comfortless flat"—is a character itself. Use your physical acting to suggest a space that is cramped or decaying. Survivalist Humor:

Often focuses on her loneliness or her budding relationship with the Boy (Jimmy). These monologues are best if you want to showcase youthful defiance masked by insecurity. Jo (Act 2):

Jo is pregnant after a brief romance with a Black sailor named Jimmie, who has returned to sea. She is living in a bleak, rented flat with her supportive friend Geoff. In this moment, Jo grapples with the terrifying reality of her impending motherhood, her complicated feelings toward her absent mother (Helen), and her deep fear of passing down her family's cycle of neglect.

Jo is from Salford, near Manchester. Do not attempt a generic "Northern" accent or a cockney accent. The Lancashire inflection is flat and musical. Dropping the 'h' ("'ave" instead of "have") and using glottal stops is essential. If you can't do the accent cleanly, drop it entirely. A fake accent is worse than a neutral one.

Which from the play you are leaning toward? What theatrical style your audition panel is looking for?

: Even with Geof there, Jo’s speech emphasizes her fundamental isolation. Why It’s Used for Auditions

Jo wears sarcasm like armor. Because she has been consistently let down by the adults in her life, she projects an aura of fierce independence. The monologue is a rare crack in that armor where her defense mechanisms fail, revealing the terrified child beneath the bitter teenager. 3. Defiance Against Society