Name: Shirley Valentine
Start: 2023-02-17
End: 2023-06-03
Location: Duke of York's Theatre

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Shirley Valentine - LON

Genre: Play

1. Sheridan Smith in SHIRLEY VALENTINE. Photo John Wilson (1)

Shirley Valentine

SV TTIX 15 WEEKS DEC22 480x720

Shirley Valentine - Hero

Shirley Valentine - LON Product Media

Born in Epworth, Lincolnshire in 1981,&nbsp;Sheridan Smith&nbsp;has performed in numerous television shows and musicals, earning an OBE in 2015 for services to drama.&nbsp;With a keen interest in drama from a young age, Smith studied dance and performing arts at every opportunity, but did not attend drama school. Smith made her television debut at 18 years old, playing Emma in the BBC series&nbsp;The Royle Family. Three years after, she landed the role of Janet Keogh in&nbsp;Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, starring in the programme from 2001 to 2009.

Outside of theatre, she is best known for her roles in television. She has had roles in comedy shows such as Benidorm and Gavin and Stacey, in which she played Rudi, the sister of Smithy played by James Corden. She has also appeared in a number of dramas such as Mrs Biggs, which won her a BAFTA award, and The 7.39 alongside&nbsp;David Morrissey.

Smith played Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors at the&nbsp;<a href="/theatres/menier-chocolate-factory">Menier Chocolate Factory</a>&nbsp;in 2006, transferring to the&nbsp;<a href="/theatres/ambassadors-theatre">Ambassadors Theatre</a>.&nbsp;In 2009, she took on the role of Elle Woods in&nbsp;Legally Blonde&nbsp;at the&nbsp;<a href="/theatres/savoy-theatre">Savoy Theatre</a>, earning an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.&nbsp;

In 2012, she played the title role in&nbsp;Hedda Gabler&nbsp;at the&nbsp;<a href="/theatres/old-vic-theatre">Old Vic</a>, and was then in a revival of the Terence Rattigan play&nbsp;Flare Path at <a href="/theatres/theatre-royal-haymarket">Theatre Royal Haymarket</a>, winning an Olivier for Best Actress.&nbsp;The following year, she starred in&nbsp;A Midsummer Night’s Dream&nbsp;at the&nbsp;<a href="/theatres/noel-coward-theatre">Noël Coward Theatre</a>, alongside David Walliams.

In 2015, Smith went on to play the role of Fanny Brice in the musical&nbsp;Funny Girl, which initially ran at the&nbsp;Menier Chocolate Factory, before transferring to the&nbsp;Savoy Theatre and touring the UK. She was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical following the show’s West End transfer.

More recently, Smith has played Cilla Black in the ITV biographical drama&nbsp;Cilla, as well as releasing her debut album titled ‘Sheridan’ in 2017, with her second album ‘A Northern Soul’ a year later. She's recently starred in&nbsp;the West End revival of&nbsp;[Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat](http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/joseph-and-the-amazing-technicolor-dreamcoat)&nbsp;as the Narrator, appearing alongside <a href="/actor-profile/jason-donovan">Jason Donovan</a>. 

In 2023, Smith will star in the one-woman play, *Shirley Valentine.*

Sheridan Smith - LON

Watching [Sheridan Smith](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/news/discover-sheridan-smith-theatre-roles-tv-performances-and-more) connect with an audience is truly mesmerising. Even while holding a West End stage, she makes every single person in attendance feel as if she’s sat at the kitchen table with them, chatting away like a lifelong friend. 

It’s a magic power ideally suited to Willy Russell’s 1986 one-woman play [*Shirley Valentine*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/27242-shirley-valentine), which relies on us investing heavily in his title character’s domestic troubles and modest, but ultimately cheer-worthy, ambitions.

Shirley is a working-class Liverpudlian housewife whose two children have left home. Her marriage barely exists; her belittling, semi-abusive husband only notices her when she makes him the wrong dinner (Smith actually cooks chips and egg live on stage). At 42, she’s completely lost her sense of self, and it takes a chance encounter with an old schoolmate to make her question: whatever happened to Shirley Valentine? 

Thankfully, her pal Jane (recently divorced, budding feminist) intervenes to give Shirley, who has never been abroad, a golden opportunity: a two-week holiday in Greece, without her family. Will Shirley find the nerve to go, and will the trip prove transformative? Well, suffice to say this isn’t a story that ever confounds expectations.

Russell’s piece operates like a direct-address monologue, although technically Shirley addresses her kitchen wall rather than us - indicative of her desperate loneliness. It’s an irritating but effective device, giving us a strong sense of how this relentless and isolating routine has ground her down over the years.

However, several elements of Russell’s script are inescapably dated. In particular, I felt bludgeoned by the endless old-school comic one-liners: “Marriage is like the Middle East - there’s no solution”; “Sex is like Sainsbury’s - overrated.” There’s also an interminable riff on the discovery of the clitoris, which feels hopelessly tame in a post-Fleabag world, and a nativity anecdote that would only really interest you if it was about your own child. 

But when Russell switches gear and has Shirley candidly, painfully expose her vulnerabilities - like recalling how a cruel headmistress damaged her confidence, making her feel that dreams were only for the clever or moneyed pupils - Smith (who has had her own struggles with mental health, famously during her run of *Funny Girl*) is in her element. She gradually dims Shirley’s determinedly sunny facade, conveying a wealth of emotion in just a wavering smile.

Annoyingly, Russell’s overwritten piece doesn’t trust her - or us. Just as we’ve inferred something obvious, like that Shirley pretended to hate everything in her teens because she hated herself, or that she hasn’t left her husband because she’s scared of the unknown, the script spells that out for us. It starts to conflict with the characterisation: if she’s so au fait with every feeling, as though she’s gone through years of intense therapy, why is she so paralysed? It would make more sense if she was telling this story in retrospect, but it’s meant to be played in the present. 

However, judging by the numerous chuckles and murmurs of recognition on my night, plenty of Russell’s observations still chime with people — including the suspicion when a woman is sitting on her own in a restaurant, or (groan) the embarrassing antics of Brits abroad. The tale’s brief use of a fantastical Greek lothario is rather wince-inducing, though, and I longed for more grit. With Smith’s chirpy telling lacking the acid moments of Pauline Collins’s original Oscar-nominated version, it risks descending into broad sitcom-meets-cloying wish fulfilment. 

But then perhaps that cosiness is a tonic right now — and there’s no doubting the kitsch charm of Matthew Dunster’s production. Paul Wills supplies a 1980s mint-green kitchen (matched by Shirley’s trousers) and later a dazzling splash of blue sky, melting into a pink sunset - shimmering in Lucy Carter’s luscious lighting design. It’s basically [*Mamma Mia!*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/304-mamma-mia-tickets) without the ABBA.

But, even if the lessons about learning to love yourself and how (gasp!) women, too, can enjoy sex feel rather hoary, the core message of not leaving any “unused life” resonates deeply after Covid. And it’s a pleasure to see Smith back centre stage, once more casting her spell.

*Shirley Valentine is at the Duke of York's Theatre through 3 June.*

[![Book Tickets CTA - LT/NYTG](//images.ctfassets.net/6pezt69ih962/3qAtGOdQq9x3k1WcHlaJnw/90ece91bbe47ed07e142c2e43c7a7a3f/BookTickets-250.png)](https://ticket.londontheatre.co.uk/booking/calendar?product_id=27242&content_product_id=27242&venue_id=116)

*Photo credit: Sheridan Smith in Shirley Valentine (Photo by John Wilson)*

'Shirley Valentine' review – Sheridan Smith casts a spell in this endearing, if dated, one-woman play

Read our three-star review of *Shirley Valentine* at the Duke of York's Theatre, starring Sheridan Smith, running through 3 June. Get *Shirley Valentine* tickets on London Theatre.

The Duke Of York’s Theatre opened as the Trafalgar Square Theatre in 1892.The playhouse received its current name three years later in 1895, in honour of the future King George V. 

Famous productions to play at the Duke Of York’s Theatre include David Belasco’s *Madame Butterfly* in 1900 – Puccini was in the audience and famously turned the story into an opera. J. M. Barrie's famous creation *Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up* opened at the theatre on 27 Dec. 1904.

Typically, the Duke of York's Theatre is home to short-running plays, with West End and Broadway stars appearing.

## Duke of York's Theatre Seating Information

The auditorium has three levels – Stalls, Royal Circle and Upper Circle.

The Stalls offer good legroom throughout, and the raking of the seats is very good, noticeably from Row D onwards. 

In the Royal Circles, there is no visual obstruction from the Upper Circle. 

The seats in the Upper Circle curve towards the stage. The final two rows of the Upper Circle are bench seats.

Duke of York's Theatre - LON

Duke of York's Theatre

Funny Girl [993]

Funny Girl

Funny Girl [993] Product Media

The Savoy Theatre opened on 21 Oct. 1929. The building was known for being the first public building to be lit entirely by electricity. 

When a fire ravaged the theatre in 1990, destroying the interior, it was meticulously restored by Sir William Whitfield to the original 1929 designs. The theatre reopened on 19 Jul. 1993.

The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company played several seasons at the theatre over the past 20 years, their last production being *HMS Pinafore* in 2003. 

The theatre has also housed several musicals, including *She Loves Me* in 1994 starring John Gordon Sinclair and Ruthie Henshall, and has played host to musicals exclusively since 2006. 

## Savoy Theatre Seating Information

The auditorium has three levels - Stalls, Dress Circle and Grand Circle.

In the Stalls, the legroom throughout is very good, and the seating is well raked to ensure good views.

In the Dress Circle, the overhang of the Grand Circle affects the view from Row K onwards. The amount of legroom also decreases the further back you sit.

The Grand Circle feels rather far from the stage.

## Where is *Pretty Woman: The Musical* in London?

*Pretty Woman: The Musical* is at the Savoy Theatre in London. The Savoy Theatre is located on the Strand. It's close to West End theatres including the Adelphi Theatre and the Vaudeville Theatre.

Savoy Theatre - LON

Savoy Theatre

The smash-hit musical is back with a dream cast including Jason Donovan

LW Theatre - Entry Requirements 

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat [18933] Palladium - LON

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat [18933] Palladium - LON Product Media

Go go go Joseph! Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest work, <a href="https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/cinderella">Cinderella</a>, is still yet to open thanks to the pingdemic, but his very first is up and running again. Laurence Connor's buoyant revival of Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Biblical musical charmed audiences back in 2019, and remains an absolute winner. If we can't go to the ball quite yet, at least we've got this technicolour dream.Connor and choreographer JoAnn M Hunter, who also collaborated with Lloyd Webber on School of Rock and Cinderella, understand&nbsp;how to balance the heart and the sublime silliness of Joseph. Essentially a summer panto, it retains its DNA as a school show, with designer Morgan Large scaling up the classic nativity styling that transforms a child purely via a fake beard, a tea towel on their head, and the goodwill of the audience.The theatrical inventiveness is delightful - from the camel bike riding to the toy sheep on skateboards and acrobatic goat (new Olympic events?) - as is the integration of children into the cast, including, on the night I was there, scene-stealing moppet Ethan Sokontwe as a tiny imperious Potiphar. That fits beautifully with the accessible, hyper-efficient storytelling, courtesy of an agile pastiche score and Rice's witty lyrics. It's effortless fun.Yet the lead role requires an awful lot of effort. Connor's version substantially bulks up the Narrator; as well as guiding us through the story, she now plays several characters and leads the dance numbers. It was built around Sheridan Smith and her vaudevillian talents, but gets a very different spin from its new inhabitant, <a href="https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/actor-profile/alexandra-burke">Alexandra Burke</a>.While Smith did too much mugging for my taste, Burke is almost the opposite: she largely plays it straight, treating the drama seriously. When the brothers misbehave, she really takes them to task, and her Jacob is genuinely grief-stricken. The former Strictly finalist is also a dynamite dancer, sharp and grounded, and particularly at home in the hip-hop-fuelled Megamix.Yet there are also times where she's visibly battling the material. Rice's gags are a strain (lots of gesticulating with the hands, not enough enunciating), and there are some wobbly vocals in the fast sections. "A Pharaoh's Story" is more convincing, allowing Burke to let loose with vocal runs and big, belting notes, but that's a rare diva moment for the Narrator.Still, many will likely warm to her inviting and sincere performance, while Joseph purists can, on a few shows, catch Linzi Hateley, who last played the Narrator 30 years ago - and is somehow better than ever. It's a cheering sign that this role is now a boon to actresses of all ages, and I hope we see plenty of creative casting in future.Hateley's early 1990s Joseph was <a href="https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/actor-profile/jason-donovan">Jason Donovan</a>, who is back hamming it up as the Elvis-esque Pharaoh. It's a generously self-deprecating turn; he groans when he has to stand up, knees cracking. And <a href="https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/actor-profile/jac-yarrow">Jac Yarrow</a>, the drama graduate who, like the title character, became a star thanks to Joseph's dreams, returns with a more mature performance and superbly controlled vocals. His "Close Every Door" is just as emotive, but with added power.Steffan Lloyd Evans and Bobby Windebank are standouts as, respectively, brothers Reuben and Simeon, the athletic chorus excel during Hunter's high-voltage hoedown and can-can numbers, and John Cameron's orchestrations, jauntily delivered, are like a vibrant new lick of paint. A few problems remain, though: the calypso is simply irredeemable, and there's a dismaying tendency to use the female ensemble as sexy set dressing.However, from its opening minutes, in which the Narrator begins her fireside tale for the children, there's a lovely emphasis on the pleasures of collective storytelling. It's just the tonic after our long separation. That, and being part of a full-capacity theatre audience all up and dancing to the Megamix. Go go go join the party.<a href="/show/joseph-and-the-amazing-technicolor-dreamcoat">Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat&nbsp;is at the London Palladium to 5 September. Book Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat tickets on LondonTheatre now.</a>Photo credit: Jason Donovan and Jac Yarrow in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Photo by Tristram Kenton)

'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' at the Palladium is a jubilant, joy-filled revival

Read our review of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium on London Theatre.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium Review | London Theatre

The London Palladium opened on 26 Dec. 1910. The 1955 television hit *Sunday Night at The London Palladium* cemented the public’s affection for the venue, and made stars of Bruce Forsyth, Norman Vaughan and Jimmy Tarbuck who hosted the show. 

From the early 1990s, the theatre housed longer runs of several large scale musical productions, starting with the [Jason Donovan](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/actor-profile/jason-donovan)-led revival of *Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat* in 1991. Owned by the Really Useful Theatres Group from 2000, Andrew Lloyd Webber has produced musical revivals of *The Sound of Music* in 2006 and *[The Wizard of Oz](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/reviews/the-wizard-of-oz)* in 2010, both of which cast their leading ladies through audience-voted talent shows broadcast on BBC1. 

After an absence of 29 years, pantomime returned to the Palladium in 2016, which has now become an annual Palladium Christmas tradition.

## London Palladium Seating Information

The auditorium has three levels – Stalls, Royal Circle and Upper Circle. In the Stalls, the view of the stage is slightly obscured by the overhang of the Royal Circle from Row S onwards, and the seats further back do suffer from a slightly lower ceiling. The seats are raked from Row D of the Stalls.

In the Royal Circle, the top of the stage is slightly obscured by the overhang of the Upper Circle in Row J onwards. The Royal Circle is raked and generally has an excellent view from all seats.

In the Upper Circle, the view from the central block of seats is still very good.

London Palladium - LON

London Palladium

Opening Night - LON [36785]

Opening Night

Opening Night - LON Product Media

The incomparable Sheridan Smith returns to musical theatre in the world premiere of Opening Night from the creative minds of Rufus Wainwright, one of the most acclaimed songwriters of his generation, and celebrated director Ivo van Hove. 


The Gielgud Theatre opened on 27 Dec. 1906, and was built for Seymour Hicks. The Gielgud was built as a pair with the [Sondheim Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/sondheim-theatre).

The house was renamed the Globe Theatre in 1909 by its new manager, Charles Frohman from America. It was known as the Globe Theatre for the next 85 years until a 1994 name change to avoid confusion with [Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/shakespeares-globe-theatre) on the South Bank. It was then that the theatre received its current name, the Gielgud.

Hit shows at the Gielgud Theatre include Simon Stephens' [*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time), Jez Butterworth's *The Ferryman* and a gender-swapped revival of Stephen Sondheim's *Company*.  Delfont Mackintosh Theatres own the Gielgud Theatre.

## Gielgud Theatre Seating Information

The auditorium has three levels – Stalls, Dress Circle and Grand Circle.

The Stalls offers very good sightlines with each row being offset from the one in front. The overhang of the Dress Circle becomes apparent from Row R onwards.

The Dress Circle doesn’t have a strong rake. The stage is not obstructed by the overhang of the Upper Circle.

The Upper Circle seats offer good legroom. The seats curve inwards towards the stage.

## Where is *To Kill a Mockingbird* in the West End? 

*To Kill a Mockingbird* is at the Gielgud Theatre. The Gielgud Theatre is located on Shaftesbury Avenue, and is one of six theatres on the West End road.

Gielgud Theatre - LON

Gielgud Theatre

Read all about Sheridan Smith (Gavin and Stacey, Cilla, The C Word) and her latest appearances on stage at LondonTheatre.co.uk

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