SHIRLEY VALENTINE

SHIRLEY VALENTINE WAS THE INAUGURAL SHOW OF WEST END PRODUCTIONS IN 2016. Welcome back Jessica Osbourne. It is ten years since her outstanding performance in the beloved 1986 one-woman play, by Willy Russell, about a middle-aged housewife who escapes her mundane, stagnant life and neglectful husband for a transformative holiday in Greece. Colleen Neary McClure once again directs this heartwarming, comedic monologue focusing on self-discovery, liberation, and rediscovering one’s identity. ‘Shirley’ inhabits her "full-fit" kitchen and makes her husband's supper as she tells us about her life, ‘Joe’, the children, and her friend ‘Jane’, who has just invited ‘Shirley’ to join her on a vacation in Greece. She talks to the wall and the audience as she convinces herself to stay or go. Wine helps to lubricate Shirley's feelings and reminiscences while she makes a mental pro-and-con list. In just two funny and charming scenes we get a sense of a prosaic life and her longing to leave it. (Talkin’Broadway 2016).   Fridays and Saturdays at 7.30pm, Sundays at 2pm.