Willy Russell’s heart-warming comedy Shirley Valentine premiered in 1986 and took the world by storm. It gave rise to knowing smiles from housewives, and uncomfortable reality checks from the fellas.
Shirley is a Liverpool housewife. Her kids have left home and she makes chips and egg for her husband while talking to the wall.
Where has her life disappeared to?
Out of the blue, her best friend offers her a trip to Greece for two weeks and she secretly packs her bags. She heads for the sun and starts to see the world and herself very differently.
With a career spanning over four decades Willy Russell is undeniably one of the most successful playwrights of his generation. His plays, including Educating Rita, Blood Brothers, Our Day Out and Shirley Valentine, have been performed across the globe and have won countless awards, they continue to be in constant production throughout the world. Shirley Valentine was adapted into an Oscar nominated film starring Pauline Collins and Tom Conti.
“It’s now thirty years since Shirley Valentine first walked onto the page, into my life and the lives of so many others," says Willy Russell.
"Shirley cooked her first meal of egg and chips on the stage of the Everyman Theatre Liverpool before then hoofing it down to London where along with the cooking and talking to the wall she started picking up the string of awards she’d win in the West End, on Broadway and in the film that earned both BAFTAs and Academy Award Nominations.
"Since those early days Shirley has had an incredibly rich and varied life, appearing in many tongues across the globe in countless productions and being performed by many great actresses."
The anniversary, together with the choice of leading lady for this production, convinced Willy that it was time to tour again: "There have been approaches and plans mooted but, somehow, it’s just never quite felt right and so I’ve resisted such efforts – until now! And what has made the difference?
"When producer Adam Spiegel introduced me to Jodie Prenger I knew in an instant that here was a formidable actress, one who possessed the grit and the warmth, the drive and the vulnerability, the energy and the heart to make Shirley Valentine really live again. How could any playwright resist that or deny the whole of the UK the chance to see Jodie bring Shirley to life?”
Take your seats at Milton Keynes Theatre from Monday (March 27). Book here
