‘Shirley Valentine’, Willy Russell’s hilarious comedy, is coming to Westport Town Hall Theatre from the 25-27th November 2021. This heart-warming and critically-acclaimed play tells the story of a stuck-in-a-rut housewife who takes the chance to taste freedom and adventure on a holiday in Greece. Her children have grown and her marriage is stale. She is fed-up with her run-of-the-mill existence as a middle-aged housewife who only talks to the wall. Shirley has just been given a chance to go abroad for the first time in her life. Just thinking about this trip of a lifetime has caused her to re-evaluate her youth, her marriage and motherhood. In this play, the audience joins Shirley in her kitchen for a good gossip, a good laugh and maybe a little tear in this clever, heart-warming comedy.
This amateur production, as well as being a terrific night’s entertainment, is being held as a fundraiser for the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation. This charity funds and delivers specialist home nursing and end-of-life care for children from birth to six years of age who have highly complex or life-limiting medical conditions. Jack & Jill support 402 families throughout Ireland, including 6 families in Mayo and 9 families in Sligo. Each ticket to the show, which costs €20, will help fund in-home nursing support, with all proceeds being donated to the charity.
The title role of Shirley will be performed by local talent Colette McGinty who is no stranger to the stage. Colette’s recent ventures on stage have been in darkly comic roles, having played Maureen Folan in ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ by Martin McDonagh with St. Patrick’s Drama Group and Joan Smiley in Peter James’ ‘The Perfect Murder’ with Balla Drama Group. Colette is looking forward to embracing a lighter side of comedy in this one-woman show, “It has been great fun getting to know Shirley over the last few months. The script is an absolute gem – funny, thought-provoking and moving. Every rehearsal shows another side to the character and it has been great to get to play such a bubbly, witty character.”
For further information, please contact us at [email protected].
