Review: ThorneStar Productions' Shirley Valentine display counter for astounding talent

Gael Haining Ede as fed-up housewife Shirley Valentine in ThorneStar Productions Palmerston North season. Photo / Supplied

Shirley Valentine
ThorneStar Productions
Venue 409
Until November 20
Reviewed by Katy Breheny

"What do I do with the time I've got left?" This is the age-old question so many ask themselves, men and women, after the children have grown up and gone. They might look around and see themselves trapped in routine, so busy cooking unappreciated eggs and chips for their loved one they have completely forgotten who they were in the first place.

What happens to what's left, all that potential and remainder of life? Will it become like a constant nagging reminder of what has been lost, hanging around one's neck like some kind of objectionable albatross?

This is the question central to the play Shirley Valentine that Willy Russell wrote in the 1980s. Completely performed by Gael Haining Ede as Shirley, and produced and directed by Damian Thorne, it is a one-sided conversation in three parts. The first two parts take place in Shirley's kitchen and the last in front of a postcard-type backdrop indicating Greece. I'm not sure the third set with the fold-out backdrop worked particularly well but it was a quick and easy transition.

Shirley is a Liverpool housewife in the 1980s who reluctantly agrees to leave domestic boredom behind and go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip with her best friend to Greece. What she finds there changes her forever.

Performed in the former First Church of Christ, Scientist at 409 Church St, there is no doubt of the appeal of this little venue. It comes complete with church pews with the insert at the back to hold your hymn book, or in this case the programme, and the seats that despite the cushion become too hard before too long.

The kitchen set is retro and cute, complete with realistic cooking sounds on a cooktop as Shirley talks to the wall while she cooks. So much so I wanted to check the progress of the chips as Shirley sat down away from them, drinking wine a little too often. The bursts of 80s music were an absolute winner.

It is hard to explain how you feel about this kind of performance because it does take a lot of concentration and intellectual involvement from the audience. This is not Squid Game or Clickbait on Netflix. It takes a lot of close listening and your imagination will absolutely get a workout. It is also kind of like talking to someone when you are not sure if you particularly connect with them but, then, there it is, the revelation that makes you say wow! And think how glad you were you made the effort.

It was absolutely a revelation how an actor can transform themselves through their craft. Shirley goes from appearing like an unappealing and complaining mature woman, looking more than her age, to someone young and pretty after her holiday in Greece. No visual effects were involved, just talent - astounding.

At the start it was a bit hard to get into the play and maybe it was the Liverpool accent, or my own middle-aged hearing, but I did want to ask for Shirley to speak up. This improved as the play went on. There was an increase in energy towards the end and, oh my goodness, it would have been hard to hold the stage for those 95 minutes without a break.

I went to the movie rendition of the play when I was 21 and could definitely appreciate the themes more this time around. My 24-year-old daughter enjoyed the play, having been raised on much more immediately gratifying entertainment than my generation, and gave it a thumbs up. She did mention a bit of discomfort around the C word (no, not that word), no spoilers given, being brought up in a church but that shows she has been brought up well!

Having an English lit background, I really did appreciate the playwright's cleverness and there are some really good insights into those private musings we can all have about the road we have walked when we get to the middle of life.

The Kiwi in me has to ask whether we need a New Zealand equivalent of Shirley Valentine in our own lingo and with our own distinctive humour and references. Yes we do! I look forward to that day.