Shirley Valentine
Trapped in a domestic rut with an ungrateful, boorish family, middle-aged Liverpudlian housewife Shirley Valentine is going to waste in suburban drudgery. But you can’t exactly call her downtrodden.
When the film version of Shirley Valentine came out in 1988, the trailer described her as ‘an extraordinary woman trapped in an ordinary life’ and that’s what makes this story an enduring classic.
Mandi Lodge (Always… Patsy Cline) stars in this production of Willy Russell’s one-woman play, which was later turned into the film, taking on a whole cast of deftly-drawn characters.
“With it being a one-woman play, I have to sort of find all these different characters and different voices and bring them into the storyline. It’s fabulous,” says Lodge.
Shirley Valentine’s hilarious take on the world shifts gear when she decides to escape her life and run away to a Greek Island. Meeting a handsome Greek man happily complicates things and steers the comedy-drama toward romance.
“It’s about finding yourself. It’s like a little bit of escapism and for Shirley Valentine, going to Greece and realising that she’s put everything on the backburner, from getting married to having kids – she wants to rediscover herself," says Lodge.
Thu 20 Jul | 7.30pm | The Venue at Fannie Bay
