Shirley Valentine

Shirley Valentine

Shirley Valentine

In 1986 it was staged at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool to great success and by 1988 it was taking the West End by storm at the Vaudeville Theatre. Fast forward to 2010 and it finds itself opening in repertoire with “Educating Rita” at the Menier Chocolate Factory; a venue that regularly sees its shows transfer to Theatreland. Now, this June it makes its way to Trafalgar Studios 1, still alongside its sister show, to remind West End audiences what made it so popular in the first place.

It can only be Willy Russell’s “Shirley Valentine”, his classic one-woman play that becomes the latest success story to come out of Southwark Street venue. With Meera Syal in the title role it is likely to be as compelling and entertaining as it always was.

“Shirley Valentine” follows our title character as she prepares the evening meal for her husband, returning her to that same spot in the kitchen that she finds herself every night, where her angst and depressions manifest themselves in her monologues to the wall. These monologues form the compelling drama that the audience witnesses until she receives some exciting news; her best friend has won a holiday for two! So she leaves a note for her husband and gathers together her belongings, saying goodbye to the kitchen for a much-needed break in Greece.

When the show was first staged in the 1980s at the Vaudeville Theatre it would become a Laurence Olivier Award-winning hit, picking up a host of accolades in 1988 and cementing Willy Russell as one of the most important playwrights of his generation. The Merseyside-born writer has made a career out of showcasing the working class struggle with plays like this, “Educating Rita” and “Blood Brothers” and as a result his stage shows can be seen all over the world. Many of them first found an audience in the 1980s and have since stood the test of time to take their place as classics of the British stage.

So with all of these classics appearing in London at the same time there has never been a better point in history to head to the capital and enjoy his work. It is something that West End audiences will undoubtedly relish.

Shirley Valentine will be appearing in repertoire with “Educating Rita” when it appears at Trafalgar Studios 1 from Monday 26th July 2010 until Saturday 30th October 2010.