'Shirley Valentine, 42-year-old put-upon mother and housewife, leaves the drudgery of cooking dinner for her husband, packs her bags and heads for the sun. The note on the kitchen table reads Gone to Greece back in two weeks. It is a simple and brilliant idea...the profound and perennial point of the comedy is the problem we seem to have contemplating the idea of a woman alone - in a pub, on a beach, in a restaurant. This is what Shirley learns to combat as she unravels her own sexual and social identity. The play is not only funny, it is also moving. (Michael Coveney, Financial Times) One for the Road ''starts...with the mid-life hero torn between the security of married life in a dormer bungalow on a northern housing estate and dreams of being a rucksacked super-tramp. Mr Russell writes with knowledgeable venom about a world where Beethoven Underpass leads to Wagner Walkway and where anyone who doesn''t join Weight Watchers or the Ramblers Club is regarded as a social deviant.'' (Francis King, Sunday Telegraph)'
Shirley Valentine is a lovely character. She is a woman who started her life with fire and promise, and who found herself in her kitchen talking to the walls. Not because she is mad, but because her life is loveless, predicatable and dry. Until her friend takes her to Greece and her life changes, in many ways. This is an absolutely delightful story. We can all identify with Shirley and her need to have a life with a little more meaning, and we can all cheer her as she goes about getting it. This is a poignant, sad and funny story, and it is a modern classic.
For All Women, And Men Who Want To Understand Them
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
Shirley Valentine has become a hero to tens of thousands of women who've studied her character and applauded her life choices . . . in drama classes on (at least) two continents. Shirley is commonly uncommon, absolutely candid, and full of a range of emotions from cold fury to childlike giddiness. Anyone who doesn't know and love Shirley; anyone who hasn't made her their friend . . . please read about her!
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