Offstage Materials
Learn more about Willy Russell, who wrote Shirley Valentine
CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
Read about the incomparable Judith Ivey and the creative forces behind what you see on stage.
INSIGHT: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE PLAYWRIGHT
"...I always harboured a secret desire to be a writer - secret because, apart from in English, I went on to be a spectacularly bad pupil at school and (with nobody to tell me otherwise), I always assumed that anyone who wanted to be a writer, would also have to have academic status. To me, a writer was someone who wore tweeds, smoked a pipe and went to Oxbridge..." -Willy Russell
See and read about the culture and economics of Shirley's Liverpool
INSIGHT: SEXUALITY AND AGING
Shirley Valentine on sex:
"I'm not even particularly fond of it-sex, am I wall? I'm not. I think it's overrated. It's just a lot of pushin' an' shovin' an' y' still come out with very little in the end."
INSIGHT: MARRIAGE AND BRAIN CHEMISTRY
Shirley Valentine on marriage:
"Marriage is like the Middle East isn't it? There's no solution. You jiggle things around a bit, give up a bit here, take a bit there, deal with the flare-ups when they happen. But most of the time you just keep your head down, observe the curfew and hope that the ceasefire holds."
From Chips an' Egg to the Milk Tray Man...learn about the quirky details that make up Shirley's Liverpool.
INSIGHT: LIVING IN LIVERPOOL
For years her blighted native city has been Britain's laughing stock. Now that it has been named European Capital of Culture, says novelist Linda Grant, it could rise again
INSIGHT: WILLY RUSSELL ON SHIRLEY VALENTINE
“I wrote the line, ‘I like a glass of wine when I’m doing the cooking.’ Then she turned around and said, ‘Don’t I, wall?’ And at that moment the play was born."
INSIGHT: HEAR AN INTERVIEW WITH THE PLAYWRIGHT
An audio interview with Willy Russell.
INSIGHT: SHIRLEY'S KITCHEN
See the model for the set...Shirley's kitchen is smaller than a coke can!
OUTSIGHT: THE LONDON PRODUCTIONS
Shirley Valentine played in London in 1988 and 2010.
OUTSIGHT: JUDITH IVEY AND THE GLASS MENAGERIE
Judith Ivey last appeared on Long Wharf Theatre's stage as Amanda Winfield in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie
