Entertainment
SHELAGH DELANEY’S PREVIOUSLY UNPERFORMED PLAY ‘CATCH ME WHO CAN’ ARRIVES AS AUDIO DRAMA
A previously unperformed play by acclaimed British playwright Shelagh Delaney has been brought to audiences for the first time as an audio drama. C...
By Patience
Catch Me Who Can, a 30-minute play written by Delaney, is now available as an audio production featuring Toby Jones, Rita Tushingham and emerging actors Ivy Sheehan and Xavier Moras Spencer.
The work was discovered by Delaney’s daughter, Charlotte, after the playwright’s death in 2011. Charlotte later adapted the play for audio, helping bring the previously unheard work to a wider audience more than a decade after her mother’s death.
A STORY ABOUT A TEENAGER SEEKING FREEDOM
The play follows Hattie, a teenage girl who runs away from school and home in search of freedom.
She encounters her maths teacher, Mr Halliwell, played by Toby Jones, who tries to persuade her to return home.
The story examines the tension between teenage independence and adult expectations, while also reflecting the social atmosphere of Britain in 1978.
The play's inspiration was personal. Charlotte Delaney has explained that her mother wrote it after Charlotte herself ran away from home and school for several days when she was 14 in 1978.
TOBY JONES AND RITA TUSHINGHAM JOIN THE CAST
Toby Jones voices Mr Halliwell, while Ivy Sheehan plays Hattie.
Rita Tushingham also appears as the Bag Woman. Tushingham has a longstanding connection with Delaney's work, having played Jo in the 1961 film adaptation of A Taste of Honey, Delaney's best-known play.
Xavier Moras Spencer also features in the audio production.
The production was directed by Polly Thomas, who had previously worked with Delaney on radio projects.
A NEW AUDIO LIFE FOR DELANEY’S PLAY
Charlotte Delaney adapted her mother's stage play specifically for the audio format.
The production allows the previously unperformed work to reach audiences without a traditional stage revival, while retaining Delaney's focus on character, dialogue and the experiences of young people.
The story also contains references to the social and political atmosphere of late-1970s Britain, including the IRA, Vietnamese refugees and the Rock Against Racism movement.
DELANEY’S LEGACY EXTENDS BEYOND ‘A TASTE OF HONEY’
Delaney became internationally known after A Taste of Honey, which she wrote as a teenager and which premiered in London in 1958.
Her work later extended into film, television and radio. She wrote screenplays including Charlie Bubbles and Dance with a Stranger, as well as television and radio productions.
The discovery of Catch Me Who Can adds another work to her body of writing and offers audiences a new opportunity to hear her distinctive approach to dialogue and young characters.
PLAY NOW AVAILABLE AS AUDIO DRAMA
Catch Me Who Can is available on Spotify from September 23, 2026.
A BBC Radio 4 documentary about Delaney's life and work is also planned for later in the year, with Charlotte Delaney involved in the production.
The release gives a new generation of listeners access to a play that remained unheard during Shelagh Delaney's lifetime.