18-419: Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell . Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife , it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad. Wondering what has happened to her youth and feeling stagnant and in a rut, Shirley feels as if her family treats her more like a servant and she finds herself regularly alone and talking to
36-478: A 1989 film version, directed by Lewis Gilbert , with Collins again playing the title role. Willy Russell William Russell (born 23 August 1946) is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are Educating Rita , Shirley Valentine , Blood Brothers and Our Day Out . Russell was born in Whiston , Lancashire (which is now Merseyside ). On leaving school, aged 15, he became
54-829: A musical about the Beatles . Commissioned by the Liverpool Everyman, it ran for a (then) unprecedented eight weeks before transferring to the West End where it ran for over a year, winning the Evening Standard and London Theatre Critics awards for the best musical of 1974. It premiered at the Everyman Theatre , Liverpool, and then transferred to the Lyric Theatre in the West End in 1974. Alongside further stage works, One for
72-518: A pair of twins separated at birth and brought up in completely different environments. It won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 1983. Its 1988 revival had over 10,000 consecutive performances during its 24-year West End run, which ended in November 2012. Simultaneously, there were UK touring and international productions, including a two-year run on Broadway starting in 1993. The Broadway production
90-548: A women's hairdresser, eventually running his own salon, until the age of 20 when he decided to go back to college. This led to him qualifying as a teacher. During these years, Russell also worked as a semi-professional singer, writing and performing his own songs in folk clubs. At college, he began writing drama and, in 1972, took a programme of three one-act plays to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe , where they were seen by writer John McGrath , who recommended Russell to
108-591: The Liverpool Everyman , which commissioned the adaptation, When The Reds… , Russell's first professional work for theatre. Russell's first play was Keep Your Eyes Down (1971), written while he trained as a teacher at Saint Katherine's College of Higher Education in Liverpool and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1971. In 1974 Russell wrote John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert ,
126-565: The Vaudeville Theatre , with Pauline Collins directed by Simon Callow . After eight previews, the Broadway production, with Collins again directed by Callow, opened on 16 February 1989 at the Booth Theatre , where it ran for 324 performances. Ellen Burstyn replaced Collins later in the run, and Loretta Swit starred in a US national tour in 1995. From 26 March - 8 May 2010, as part of
144-638: The Moon on Pure Records. Russell also co-produced the Tim Firth album Harmless Flirting . In 2013, the Archive and Special Collections department of Liverpool John Moores University established the Willy Russell Archive containing manuscripts, programmes, publicity and media material including newspaper cuttings and press releases, correspondence, legal, financial and administrative documents, records relating to
162-850: The Road (1976) and Stags and Hens (1978), Russell was a screenwriter with television films, Death of A Young Young Man (1975, BBC1), Daughters of Albion (1979), Our Day Out (1977) and the five-part serial One Summer (1983). Commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Educating Rita premiered at the Warehouse, London in 1980 and transferred to the West End Piccadilly Theatre , London in August 1980, and starred Julie Walters and Mark Kingston . Since its premiere and long West End run (the play ran to "at least" June 1982),
180-614: The UK from March 2017 to November 2017. Prenger was met with rave reviews. A new production starring Sheridan Smith , and directed by Matthew Dunster opened at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, in February 2023 and ran until 3 June 2023. In March 2025, the play will return to the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool as part of the theatre's 60th birthday celebrations with Helen Carter playing Shirley and directed by Stephen Fletcher. Russell adapted his play for
198-627: The Willy Russell season at the Menier Chocolate Factory , Meera Syal played Shirley in the production's first London West End revival. A West End transfer of the Menier Chocolate Factory production ran at the Trafalgar Studios from 20 July – 30 October 2010. Meera Syal reprised her role as Shirley; this production was adapted and broadcast by BBC Radio Four in 2010 and 2017. A 30th Anniversary Tour, starring Jodie Prenger ran in
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#1732869106261216-599: The Year in a New Play). The play transferred to New York for a highly successful Broadway run in February 1989 to November 1989, and a Tony Award as Best Actress for Collins. Both Educating Rita (1983) and Shirley Valentine (1989) became feature films with Michael Caine , Julie Walters and Pauline Collins all receiving Oscar nominations for their respective roles, as did Russell for his Educating Rita screenplay. Russell's other worldwide theatrical success has been Blood Brothers , "a Liverpudlian folk opera" about
234-485: The casting and audition process, audio and film material, and promotional ephemera. The material was produced throughout the course of Russell's career and is a comprehensive representation of his work to date. It also illustrates Russell's collaborative works, both written and musical. In 1969, Russell married Annie Seagroatt; the couple have one son, Rob, and two daughters, Rachel and Ruth. John McGrath (playwright) Too Many Requests If you report this error to
252-468: The characters and plot of the original but with the action brought forward to today with a new score and lyrics to reflect this twenty first century setting. The musical was produced in 2010 at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool . The Wrong Boy , Willy Russell's first novel, was published in 2000. In 2004, Russell returned to his original singer/songwriter roots, releasing his album, Hoovering
270-462: The play has been translated and produced in almost every part the globe garnering awards both for its author and for many of the actors who have played the roles of Rita and Frank. Returning to the Liverpool Everyman in 1986, Russell wrote Shirley Valentine which went on to an acclaimed West End run, earning Olivier Awards for both its author (Comedy of the Year) and star Pauline Collins (Actress of
288-650: The vacation is over she decides not to return, ditching her friend at the airport and going back to the hotel where she'd been staying to ask for a job and to live a newly self-confident life in which she is at last true to herself. Commissioned by the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool , the play premiered in 1986, with Noreen Kershaw directed by Glen Walford. At one point during the run Kershaw suffered from appendicitis. With no understudy, Russell himself played Shirley for three weeks. Two years later it opened in London's West End at
306-506: The wall while preparing an evening meal of "chips and egg" for her emotionally distant husband. When her best friend wins a competition for two to Greece , she packs her bags, leaves a note on the cupboard door in the kitchen, and heads for a fortnight of rest and relaxation. In Greece, with just a little effort on her part, she rediscovers everything she had been missing about her existence in England. She finds so much happiness, in fact, that when
324-728: Was nominated for the 1993 Tony Award, Best Musical. In 1985, Russell co-wrote the song "The Show", the theme for the TV series Connie with series creator Ron Hutchinson . The song was performed by vocalist Rebecca Storm and released as a single by Towerbell Records in June 1985, reaching number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. Russell (with musical collaborator Bob Eaton) realised a long-held ambition to develop Our Day Out further and after extensive rewriting, and recomposing created Our Day Out – The Musical . This modern musical retelling retains all
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