Where did the time go? Thatâs the central question of Shirley Valentine. For anyone in the audience who remembers the 1980s, itâs a question weâre all asking â not least on hearing Jodie Prenger is in the lead role.
âShe must be playing it younger,â a friend says to me before the show. Well, a little, but not much. Willie Russellâs Liverpudlian housewife facing a mid-life crisis is 42-years-old. In 1989, when I saw the film, Pauline Collinsâ character seemed much older.
Perhaps thatâs one thing we recognise in this 30-year anniversary production â being 42-years-old is not always what you imagine it would be. Â And also, 80s fashion, particularly a royal blue two-piece, with a wide brimmed white hat, isnât as flattering as people once thought.
The setting of the play is very much a period piece. We meet Shirley in her pine kitchen, with yellow painted walls, a round-dialled telephone on the wall and a deep fat fryer on the go, cooking the famous egg and chips for her husbandâs tea.
Yet as Prenger begins her monologue, the dialogue is fresh, snappy and very funny. Of course, the story is of its time in so far as itâs not uncommon for women to travel alone, and Iâm not sure how many men expect their tea waiting for them on the table when they get home from work. Given the same scenario in 2017 perhaps itâs more likely Shirley would have been seduced by smooth words over the internet than in a Greek taverna, but the cultural references are still recognisable and the emotions never change.
The Lowryâs Lyric Theatre is a huge stage for a one-woman show, but Prenger pulls it off wonderfully. She is an incredibly likable performer and her natural warmth is perfect for the role. Whether sheâs talking to the wall or a seaside rock, her animated conversation and superb comic timing fill the stage with an energy that is both absorbing and uplifting.
As Shirley Valentine would say, âItâs brillâ.
Shirley Valentine is at The Lowry from 19-24 June 2017.