THE Press will revisit this production in more detail when it plays York Theatre Royal in the closing week of its spring and summer tour in July.

First, however, the Hull run of A Taste Of Honey offers the first chance to experience a taste of the future of Hull Truck Theatre under new artistic director Mark Babych, an experienced hand with more than 100 professional productions to his name, most notably in ten years in charge of the Bolton Octagon.

On initial inspection, it is a future that goes back to the past, not only in his choice of A Taste Of Honey, Shelagh’s 1958 teenage drama written when she was only 19, but also in its characteristics as a northern, working-class drama with shards of brittle humour. The kind of play that John Godber or Gareth Tudor Price might have put on in their halcyon Hull Truck days.

One immediately distinctive feature, however, isBabych’s employment of actor-musicians James Weaver, Lekan Lawal and Christopher Hancock, who double as a skiffle band to entertain the audience pre-show and in the interval as well as when linking scenes.

Julie Riley tends toward charicature as errant mother Helen, but Shameless star Rebecca Ryan is terrific as pregnant teen Jo, and Hancock gives the second half the jolt it needs as pansy art student Geoff.

A Taste Of Honey, Hull Truck Theatre/Derby Theatre, at Hull Truck Theatre, until April 19; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, May 20 to 24; York Theatre Royal, July 8 to 12. Box office: Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk