Octagon Theatre, Bolton – until Saturday 8th March 2025
Review by Rebecca Hampson
5*****
Directed by Lotte Wakeham and reset in Lancashire by Mina Anwar, this glorious reprisal of Shirley Valentine with Mina Anwar in the title roll of Shirley once more is an absolute must see.
Following the story of housewife Shirley, stuck in a rut and living solely to please others, when the opportunity to escape it all for two weeks in Greece arises it takes every ounce of courage and strength she has to take the leap.
From the moment this play began I could not stop laughing. Anwar’s resetting of the play in Lancashire was authentic and resonated well with its northern audience. Her whitty one liners and dialogue ‘to the wall’ left every member of the audience around me in hysterics as we grew to love Shirley right from the very beginning.
As a one woman show, set and props played a key role in keeping the pace of the play and allowing us to get to know Shirley by the way she moved and interacted with the world around her. Sitting down at the table she spoke to the audience (the wall) peeling potatoes and telling us about her husband Joe. It became clear soon after that she was preparing his dinner, chopping potatoes into chips which were placed into a chip pan which began to fill the entire theatre with the aroma of freshly cooked chips. To me this choice was genius. Smelling the chips I was completely and entirely enthralled forgetting the audience around me and zoning solely onto Shirley.
During the interval the set was switched from Shirley’s home to Greece as she traveled for her adventure. As the backdrop was pulled across the stage a sound effect of a plane flying over was timed perfectly with the flow of the curtain. This was another extremely impressive choice which I felt elevated the level of this performance. The attention to detail was phenomenal.
This performance highlighted the sheer talent of Anwar with her ability to hold the attention of every audience member in a 2 hour solo show. She truly deserved the standing ovation she recieved at curtain close.
Shirley Valentine is on tour with dates at Bolton Octagon until Saturday 8th March and further dates at The Dukes, Lancaster: Wednesday, March 12, 2025 to Saturday, March 22, 2025 and closing in Blackpool Grand Theatre, Blackpool: Tuesday, April 1, 2025 to Saturday, April 5, 2025.