Theatre review: Shirley Valentine
King’s Theatre, Edinburgh ****
At the King’s Theatre this week, stage and screen star Jodie Prenger, of I’d Do Anything fame, plays Shirley with a passion and vulnerability that’s immensely moving, as she leads us through this story of a Liverpool everywoman, from the moment when she puts her husband Joe’s egg and chips on the table just as the door slams to announce his return from work, to the moment when, from the strength of her new life on a Greek island, she invites him to join her for a drink at a table by the sea.
As a Lancashire girl, Josie manages Shirley’s Liverpool accent pretty well, and her Liverpool humour to perfection. And although the sheer brilliance of Russell’s writing has made Shirley’s story a familiar one over the years, it’s still difficult not to stand up and cheer as Shirley uses all the resources she has – her energy, her wit, and her zest for life – to win back that precious sense of autonomy that is every human being’s birthright, and is nonetheless so easy to lose, among all the pressures of everyday life.
JOYCE MCMILLAN
Final performances today