Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Four stars
Willy Russell’s classic 1986 study of a working class Liverpool housewife who becomes an independent woman is now just a few years younger than the play’s forty-something heroine. Judging by this speedy summer revival of Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s production, first seen in 2023, Russell’s deceptively chirpy one-woman dramady is showing few signs of middle-aged spread.
As brought to life here by Sally Reid, Russell’s creation remains a warm and powerful portrait of one woman’s wake up call, as a flight to Greece offers a last gasp chance at liberation from her own mid life crises that might just change everything.
The wine Reid pours into her glass at the start of the play marks the beginning of Shirley’s very quiet rebellion, as she takes a leap beyond her litany of everyday drudgery she offloads to the wall, which becomes confidant, confessor and sounding board, crucially never answering back.
Confined to the working kitchen of Emily James’ set before opening out to the shimmering Greek shoreline, Elizabeth Newman’s production charts the gentlest of emancipations. Having the audience effectively become the wall is a genius sleight of hand by Russell, even as it prevents Shirley from banging her head against it. Reid captures Shirley’s emotional baggage with depth and sensitivity, leaving enough space to deliver Russell’s comic punchlines with deadly intent.
In these post Sex and the City times, Shirley’s emancipation may seem almost quaint. It is Russell’s refreshingly unsensational scenario, however, that gives the play its power. Jeanine Byrne’s low-key lighting and Patricia Panther’s quasi-ambient soundscape match the grown-up mood.
As the feminist revolution slowly filtered out of the debating halls and into the kitchens of ordinary women when the play first appeared, Shirley gives voice to all the women who gave up their dreams early on. If things could go either way at the play’s end, having reclaimed her name and a whole lot more, Shirley Valentine remains a heroine of her age.
The Herald, June 17th 2024
ends
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