Sharon Millerchip in Shirley Valentine. Photo: Anna Kucera.
Written in 1985/6, Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine is something of a contemporary classic, but is it dated? Not in this production, with Sharon Millerchip in the title role. The only role, in fact, for this is a one-woman tour de force, and Millerchip has nailed it.
On one level it is a little sad that, 30 years on, the sad fate of Shirley Valentine – a bright individual slowly submerged by the roles of wife, mother, drudge – should have resonance but this is ultimately a story of optimism.
Sharon Millerchip as Shirley Valentine. Photo: Anna Kucera
For reasons that are quite possibly not altruistic, Shirley’s friend Jane offers to take her to Greece for a fortnight’s holiday. Shirley has always longed to travel, but now that she’s “42, you just don’t start again, do you?”
The audience groans yes, but there’s Shirley’s dour, tea-on-table husband to consider, and her selfish adult children, and Shirley’s own fear of change. She would “like to drink a glass of wine in the country where the grape is grown” but who’d look after hubby? Besides, she’s grown up in an environment where she has been constantly put down. Confidence, rather than innate intelligence, is in short supply.
Reflecting on her choices, Millerchip’s Shirley gives us a woman whose sense of humour is sharp. There are some fine oneliners – “marriage is like the Middle East – there’s no solution” (nothing dated about that quip) – and her reflections on the [re-]discovery of the clitoris are deft and laugh-out-loud. Although we know that Shirley will, come hell or high water, be going to Greece, it doesn’t spoil the enjoyment.
In Act 2, when she has temporarily swapped the dour terraces of working-class Liverpool for the bright blue shores of the Aegean, a fresh mental perspective intrudes. Why has she led such a little life? Why do you get this life if it can’t be used? Most of us die before we’re dead.
This Shirley Valentine, directed by Mark Kilmurray, is a polished and feel-good crowd-pleaser and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s also the second play I have seen in one week that is ultimately about urging us to lead full and authentic lives. So cheers to Shirley Valentine.
Shirley Valentine, The Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli, until June 9.
