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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Shirley Valentine
Hall Green Little Theatre
***** TOUR de force is a much overworked
phrase, but every couple of years or so you come across a performance
where there is no other way to describe it – Jean Wilde is Shirley
Valentine. She played the part at Hall Green back in 1994
and, well, she must have done it OK, otherwise she wouldn’t have been
asked to do it again a mere 22 years later, and do it she does,
confidently nailing the Liverpool housewife who is fighting to rekindle
her dreams from the stifling, mundane routine of her life and marriage. From the moment she bustles into the kitchen to
make husband Joe’s tea, to her final invite to Joe to join her for a
drink by the surf as the sun slips into evening in her new life on a
Greek island, Wilde is Shirley; acerbic, funny, sad, frustrated, angry
and most of all frightened that life has passed her by; Shirley
Valentine the rebel, the brave, the alive, is being smothered by the
humdrum life of Mrs Joe Bradshaw. Written by Willie Russell in 1986, the
one-character play has lost none of its relevance or humanity over the
years and no doubt there is now a new generati Just about every wife in the audience recognises
Shirley, more familiar to some than others, and although the play is set
somewhere in the 1980s, the setting is really anytime between marriage
and death, that time when merely being alive and life itself drift
apart. Thirty years on Russell’s words are still very funny, very
relevant and still ring bells of recognition for many a wife in
the audience.
They are wives whose life has been sucked into a
black hole of tedious routine with husbands who have lost whatever spark
they had, who expect a set meal for a set day to be on the table as they
arrive home at a set time every night, grown up children who still
demand attention at the instant they want it, and what is left in
between is boring, so boring the only outlet is talking to a wall. It is a dream role for any actor, the stage to
yourself for an entire play, and Wilde, an older wiser Shirley this time
around, grasps it with both hands with an authentic Scouse accent,
mixed with a whole host of variations in the voices of the cast of
characters who inhabit her life. She manages all that with an admirably convincing
air, which is not the easiest thing to do in the intimate confines of
the studio, especially as she was also the director. The story is simple, Shirley has a marriage that
if not loveless, is romanceless, devoid of emotion and excitement, a
marriage and a life heading nowhere, and heading there in the same
predictable way day after day – until her big friend Jane - that's the
one she told you about, the one whose husband ran off with the milkman -
anyhow, Jane invites her on a two-week holiday to Greece. Shirley agonises and eventually heads off for sun and . . . whatever awaits, which in this case is first Costas and then a new life; so, as Jane heads home, Shirley heads back to the beach - Shirley Valentine has found herself again. Along the way to the return of Shirley Valentine
we hear of neighbour Gillian “if you had a headache she would have a
brain tumour”, the teachers and heads, the posh, clever school friend
Marjorie with the surprising career choice, son Brian, currently a
would-be poet, and daughter Millandra, boorish holidaymakers in the
hotel and of course Joe and Greek lothario, Costas, all brought to life
in a series of monologues. It is a memorable, towering performance. A mention too for the set builders who created a
1980s kitchen where Wilde even managed to prepare and cook real egg and
chips on a real cooker, complete with bread and butter – and well-cooked
at that – as well as a Greek beach complete with wall replacement, rock. The show has sold out – so, unless your wall says
otherwise, see if you can grab any returns. It is well worth the effort.
To 13-02-16 Roger Clarke
05-02-16 HGLT Box office: 0121 707 1874 |
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on
of Mrs Bradshaws in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham . . . the appeal
is universal.