The Stage - Shirley Valentine Five Star Review
*****
“Helen Carter's performance is nothing short of perfection”
BY NIGEL SMITH
EVERYMAN THEATRE, LIVERPOOL
Willy Russell’s downtrodden housewife makes a triumphant return to the Liverpool stage
Willy Russell was commissioned to write this now well-worn monologue to celebrate the 21st birthday of Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre in 1986. Thirty-nine years later, he has been back in the rehearsal room to oversee this revival, skilfully directed by Stephen Fletcher, marking the theatre’s 60th year. As birthday presents go, this takes some beating.
The role of Shirley is a gift for an actor, offering two sharply observed hours that blend gentle humour with genuine pathos, and getting the casting right is critical. Helen Carter nails it. It’s no exaggeration to say that she makes the part her own, and her performance is nothing short of perfection, making the most of the poignant subtext that underpins the comedy.
Revising the piece, spoken by a new voice, one can’t help but wonder how much Russell’s early experience as a hairdresser fed into his writing: how many times must he have heard from customers the kind of revelations that bubble up from under the surface of Shirley’s words? The Everyman of the 1980s was famous for tackling social issues head-on, through gritted Merseyside teeth. Here, Russell lays bare the sadness and longing of a woman whose soul is gradually being sucked out of her by the life she’s living, without losing sight of that uniquely Liverpudlian stoic sense of humour. Carter’s sharply honed delivery has the capacity to simultaneously draw laughter and tears from her audience.
Katie Scott’s set undergoes a glorious transformation between the acts. The commonplace beige anonymity of the kitchen occupied by “Saint Joan of the fitted units” in Act I gives way to a sun-drenched fairytale after the interval. Particularly beautiful is the delicately nuanced lighting from Joshie Harriette, which almost imperceptibly underlines the shifting emotions in the text. This is not just another revival of a popular play, but a beautifully crafted piece of theatre that is a joy to watch. She may very well never have returned from Greece – but Shirley Valentine has come home.