Shirley Valentine

Something's about to change for Mrs Shirley Bradshaw, mother of grown children and confidence eroded housewife. After decades of dull married life, mince dinners every Thursday and talking to the kitchen wall, her former self – the fearless Shirley Valentine – is fizzing to get out. And she's ready to change everything. Even the wall.

Shirley feels stuck in a rut and finds solace in her daily glass of wine as she muses over the lack of excitement in her life. When her best friend asks her to go to Greece with her for 2 weeks, Shirley jumps at the chance with a mix of exhilaration and jittery nerves. Leaving a note for her husband that simply reads “Gone to Greece - Back in two weeks”, Shirley leaves for her holiday. While relaxing on holiday, she rediscovers the woman she used to be and the happiness that she has been missing. Shirley embarks on a passionate affair with Costas, a local Greek man, and realizes that there is more to life than the dull, mundane existence she leads back home in Liverpool. Making a radical decision, she leaves her friend at the airport and goes back to the hotel she has been staying at to ask for a job. Finally, she is living the life she has dreamed of and rediscovered the self-confidence she has lost.

Cath Patterson has been nominated for Excellence By A Leading Performer In A Play At The City of Newcastle Drama Award for her performance in this play.