Willy Russell and Pauline Collins had a big success with Shirley Valentine on stage and film in the late 1980’s. The monologue, compassionate, true, sad and funny, made for genuine popular entertainment and can still win all hearts.
Sheridan Smith, returning to the stage after a long absence, is having a huge success and her performance is not to be missed. She is excellent. The run has already been extended.
Russell’s script could so easily be a script for a stand up alternative feminist comedienne. There are plenty of jokes, stories, one liners; but the monologue is so much more than that.
Shirley Valentine is a plump, forty two year old, with an awful husband and two children who no longer live at home. All too aware that her life is unfulfilled (“Why do we get all this life if we do not use it?”) she plucks up courage to go to Greece with a girlfriend, has a fling with a Greek waiter and doesn’t come home.
Sheridan Smith has an instant rapport with the audience which she never loses. The monologue lasts two hours with interval and needs an actor with that virtuosity.
The vignettes she gives of husband, children, next door neighbour, headmistress, school swat turned hooker, the English abroad, Greek waiter are all expertly created. There is a hilarious account of a primary school’s performance of the Nativity Play.
There will continue to be plenty of middle-aged women who will identify with Shirley Valentine and wish they could be as brave as her. The applause at the end of the show is as much for Shirley Valentine as it is for Sheridan Smith. You can feel the tremendous warmth the audience has for the character and you can hear the appreciation for the actor who has recreated the character. A triumph!
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