Everyone’s favourite Liverpudlian housewife is back! Shirley Valentine will tour venues across the UK bringing her heart-warming tale to audiences.
Willy Russell’s heart-warming comedy premiered in 1986 and took the world by storm. It was adapted into an oscar nominated film starring Pauline Collins, and now as the play celebrates its 30th anniversary, Jodie Prenger stars in the first major revival of this treasured play.
Shirley’s kids have left home and she makes chips and egg for her husband while talking to the wall. Where has her life disappeared to? Out of the blue, her best friend offers her a trip to Greece for 2 weeks and she secretly packs her bags. She heads for the sun and starts to see the world and herself very differently.
Of the revival Willy Russell says; “It’s now thirty years since Shirley Valentine first walked onto the page, into my life and the lives of so many others. Shirley cooked her first meal of egg and chips on the stage of the Everyman Theatre Liverpool before then hoofing it down to London where along with the cooking and talking to the wall she started picking up the string of awards she’d win in the West End, on Broadway and in the film that earned both BAFTAs and Academy Award Nominations. Since those early days Shirley has had an incredibly rich and varied life, appearing in many tongues across the globe in countless productions and being performed by many great actresses. The one thing Shirley Valentine has not done of late is extensively tour the UK. There have been approaches and plans mooted but, somehow, it’s just never quite felt right and so I’ve resisted such efforts – until now! And what has made the difference? When producer Adam Spiegel introduced me to Jodie Prenger I knew in an instant that here was a formidable actress, one who possessed the grit and the warmth, the drive and the vulnerability, the energy and the heart to make Shirley Valentine really live again. How could any playwright resist that or deny the whole of the UK the chance to see Jodie bring Shirley to life?”
This new production of Shirley Valentine is directed by Glen Walford, set and costume design by Amy Yardley, lighting design by Glen Whiteside, and is produced by Adam Spiegel.
For more information about other great touring productions JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
SHIRLEY VALENTINE UK TOUR
Thursday 2 – Saturday 4 March 2017
Churchill Theatre, Bromley
Monday 6 – Saturday 11 March 2017
New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham
Monday 13 – Saturday 18 March 2017
New Victoria Theatre Woking
Monday 20 – Saturday 25 March 2017
Richmond Theatre
Monday 27 March – Saturday 1 April 2017
Milton Keynes Theatre
Monday 3 – Saturday 8 April 2017
Grand Theatre Leeds
Monday 10 – Saturday 15 April 2017
Theatre Royal Bath
Tuesday 18 – Saturday 22 April 2017
Wycombe Swan
Monday 24 – Saturday 29 April 2017
Sheffield Lyceum
Tuesday 2 – Saturday 6 May 2017
King’s Theatre Glasgow
Tuesday 16 – Saturday 20 May 2017
Marlowe Theatre Canterbury
Monday 22 – Saturday 27 May 2017
Theatre Royal Nottingham
Tuesday 30 May – Saturday 3 June 2017
Festival Theatre Edinburgh
Tuesday 6 – Saturday 10 June 2017
Belgrade Theatre Coventry
Monday 12 – Saturday 17 June 2017
Wyvern Theatre Swindon
Monday 19 – Saturday 24 June 2017
The Lowry Salford
Tuesday 27 June – Saturday 1 July 2017
New Theatre Cardiff
Monday 3 – Saturday 8 July 2017
Assembly Hall Theatre Tunbridge Wells
Monday 10 – Saturday 15 July 2017
Theatre Severn Shrewsbury
Monday 17 – Saturday 22 July 2017
Theatre Royal Brighton
Monday 24 – Saturday 29 July 2017
Festival Theatre Malvern
Monday 11 – Saturday 16 September 2017
Grand Theatre Blackpool
