Leeds Grand Theatre. 3 – 8 April 2017. Reviewed by Lindsay Sykes
I fell in love with Willy Russell when I covered the play version of Blood Brothers in my school drama lessons in the 80’s. Here was a man who understood and created strong women.
Shirley Valentine is a classic display of a strong woman, 40 years since it was written and 30 years since it was first performed, the play doesn’t show much sign of ageing thanks to the fact that many women are still locked into situations where their obligations to families and husbands stifle individuality and where routine overwhelms one’s sense of identity.
Jodie Prenger’s Shirley is a passionate, strong-willed role model that transcends generations – a woman emboldened by female friendship to take a leap, thus creating a new life for herself. Of all the varying formats in the theatre, the one-actor show has to be the scariest for the performer and the toughest to bring off. When things go wrong, there’s no-one to hide behind and nobody else to take the blame. Not that any blame is required here, because Prenger’s performance is totally absorbing and she kept the entire audience pretty-well riveted for the best part of 2 hours of entertainment Prenger is incredibly relatable, guiding us through this mammoth monologue as though we are old friends, catching up over a cup of tea, or a nice glass of wine. Her easy-going, natural approach tugs at the heartstrings; she represents countless women who have fallen out of love with themselves.
Transporting the audience from her kitchen in Liverpool to a beautiful beach in Greece, 42-year-old Shirley Bradshaw’s life is thrown out of balance by an unexpected holiday, causing her to question the mundane, limiting life she finds herself leading. We see the complexities of Shirley’s character – the housewife-robot, the comic storyteller; the deeply-felt regret for the life she should have lived and the strength of character and courage it takes to choose sun over sorrow.
With a range of accents and postures, Prenger embodies the characters that feature in Valentine’s life, transforming from bewildered nativity play innkeeper to selfish daughter, uncomfortable Brits Abroad to passionate Greek lover, all the while rearranging the furniture on the beach or cooking chips and egg live on stage. She brings to life her ungrateful husband Joe, who “gets jet-lag going to the Isle of Man” and their son Brian, who’s living in a squat in Kirkby though she’d prefer it to be in Childwall.
A plain black backdrop brings life into Shirley’s kitchen in a simple but affective set for the first act – a simple yellow kitchen, with pine cupboards and the ever present wall who Shirley talks to as a constant companion. In the second, the deep-fat frier and washing machine are swapped for a Mediterranean scene, complete with turquoise water and sandy beach. But here she talks to rock (should that be βράχος) who doesn’t understand her or speak back as he is Greek. It is here that she rediscovers herself, in an conclusion that is uplifting without being sugary.
There should be something almost unbelievable about Russell’s account of a bright, dynamic woman who has somehow become such a taken-for-granted wife and mother – no job, no other identity – that she simply puts up with a bullying husband who barely gives her the time of day; a woman for whom the prospect of a two-week package holiday in Greece seems like a major act of rebellion.
Yet however distant in theory, in practice this image of a female life still seems to strike a huge chord with generations of women who find themselves infinitely relied on for the practicalities of domestic life, but often barely noticed as people. And as you sit through the incredibly poignant second half you find yourself thinking that you are a 45 year mother of three grown up children and wondering where your passport is
Shirley Valentine is a wonderful, passionate, comedic, poignant monologue that shows the true joy of Willy Russell’s words and the versatility of Jodie Prenger. In Leeds until Saturday 8 April and on tour around the UK this is show that must NOT be missed
