Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Shirley might as well talk to the wall, for as much as anyone listens to her. So she does. Constantly.
At 42, the Liverpudlian housewife Shirley Bradshaw fixes a meal she knows will displease her husband while addressing her kitchen wall, wondering how the rebellious girl who was Shirley Valentine has become the invisible mother-wife who does what’s expected and nothing more.
3 comments:
I decide to read this article because I didn’t know anything about the topics covered. Being still new to Pittsburgh, I don’t know that much about the local theatre scene. I’ve heard the PICT Theatre mentioned a couple times, and wasn’t exactly sure the kind of theatre it is. However, after reading this article about “Shirley Valentine” coming to the stage I was able to understand the theatre a little bit better. The show is a one-woman show that deals with the unhappiness of the modern woman who wishes to be young and feisty again. From this brief information given I can understand that the PICT Theatre may be a little more experimental than some of the theatres I’ve seen elsewhere. I’m interested now in visiting the PICT to see a show, maybe even attend “Shirley Valetine”. I’m looking forward to learning more about the PICT.
Even with Susan’s scavenger project at the beginning of last year, I’m ashamed to say that with the except of the Winter’s Tale at Quantum Theater that my class went to see all together I have not seen any production by local theatre companies in Pittsburgh. I want to try and change that this year, perhaps Shirley Valentine would be the place to start. I have only ever seen one one man/woman show before. It was a one man show of Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried and it was utterly wonderful, although I may be biased because I absolutely love that book. However, I don’t find the theoretical idea of one person shows very interesting. I really love watching interaction between actors on stage and how they and their character relate to one another. Taking that away can make a performance seem less like a show and more like an acting exercise. It is important to note that for the only one man show I have seen that assumption was totally untrue. I would be completely open to being proved wrong again, and perhaps Shirley Valentine will be the show to do it.
It’s been quite a last couple of years for PICT. And honestly, it is refreshing to hear about the work that they are putting forward rather than the troubles that have surrounded them in the past. It’s unfortunate because I think for at least the next couple of years, they will have that stigma with them, that they were the Pittsburgh theatre company that almost went under. Based on this review, it seems like they may be back on their feet for this season and ready to keep running. It definitely was a noteworthy choice to go the Union Project for this season, but the review does note that it is temporary. It brings a good point though. How do you move a theatre company? I’m not necessarily talking about Quantum which does not rely on a resident venue, but say the contract ends or there is a flood? What happens when the work you are doing becomes standard with the space that it is performed in?
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