Unlike the film, the play has just one pivotal character

IF YOU like your theatre to have bags of humour and a feel-good message, then the Lawrence Batley Theatre is the place for you next week.

The story of Shirley Valentine – the bored, middle-aged, working class housewife from Liverpool – was a massive success 20 years ago, both on stage and on film.

It is not difficult to see why. Many women perhaps identified with Shirley. In a rut, talking to the wall as she prepared her husband’s chips and egg dinner, wondering if life still had anything to offer.

Who could resist what followed? A chance trip to Greece, with a competition prize-winning friend, opened her eyes to the possibilities of what life still had to offer.

Writer Willy Russell captured perfectly the humour and the sadness of a life running into the buffers and about to be given a diversion which could just open up a whole new journey.

Huddersfield Thespians have gone from a big, main stage production with The Railway Children, which earned them busy houses earlier in the year, to a one-hander in the intimate confines of the LBT’s Cellar Theatre.

It’s an exciting prospect for director Enid Luty and for actress Christine Davies who shoulders the burden of being the only cast member in Shirley Valentine.

Unlike the film, which brought all the characters in Shirley’s life, the play has just one pivotal character.

It is quite a role for one performer and one that Enid, no mean actress herself, says she would once have relished.

“This play is a challenge to any actress and one that I would have enjoyed taking myself years ago,” she said.

“Nevertheless, it has been a joy to work with a good friend on a great play and the results are something to be proud of and I am very proud of the work that Christine has put into Shirley Valentine.”

The show was originally commissioned more than 20 years ago by Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre. Two years after its premiere on Merseyside, it opened in London’s West End with Pauline Collins playing Shirley and directed by Simon Callow. In the film version, Pauline was joined by a stellar cast including Tom Conti as Costas.

The play’s enduring popularity lies with its humour and with its underlying positivity as Shirley discovers more about herself and what, with a little courage, she can achieve in life.

The show begins on Tuesday, March 11 in the Cellar Theatre with evening performances at 7.45pm plus a Saturday matinee at 2pm.

Tickets from the LBT box office on 01484 430528.