Extended thru October 14th

Shirley Valentine 

by Willy Russell

 

     Inside Mrs. Joe Bradshaw – middle-aged mother of two grown children – is the former Shirley Valentine, longing to get out.  Her hope and self-confidence have been badly shattered by school, marriage and life—so much so that she is reduced to talking to the kitchen wall while preparing her husband’s evening meal (which must be on the table as he opens the front door every night.) Her daydreams have turned to dishwater, a scenario playing in somebody else's soap opera. 

     As Shirley sips a glass of wine, she dreams of drinking in a country where the grape is grown.  When her feminist friend offers her a holiday in Greece, Shirley seizes the opportunity and breaks out of the mold cast for her by society. 

     Shirley is as versatile as a Cuisinart -- she's every woman who ever wanted to burn her potholders.  

"It was a real  treat to see an actor so thoroughly resonate with the character, under deft direction that invited, almost seduced, the audience to resonate right along.  ... I walked away feeling better as both audience, and as an actor, as if something had been given me that I hadn't had before, and didn't know it til curtain call." KC

"Talk about a performance: Willy Russell’s one-woman comedy “Shirley Valentine” sinks or swims on the sole basis of who’s acting it. Under the direction of Adriana Warner for offoffpeachtree theatre, Lynne Jenson is at once thoughtful and funny as the working-class British housewife, who leaves behind her “unused life” for a romantic Greek voyage of self-discovery. (A real plus: Jeroy Hannah’s ingenious, multi-functional set.) Whether literally talking to the wall or breaking down theater’s figurative “fourth wall” and addressing us directly, Jenson’s aim is decidedly true." SUNDAY PAPER

"Lynne Jenson commanded the stage in the one-woman show Shirley Valentine." SG

"You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll leave the theatre a better person." R

September 8th through October 14th, 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. 

All About Greek Wine &  Kyma Restaurant Wine Tasting

Sept 23rd 7:30 p.m. more information

 

Visit the Atlanta Greek Festival 

Cast & Crew

Lynne Jenson [PODCAST] (Shirley Valentine) loves Shakespeare's women and the men she's played as a woman (Mercutio remains one of my favorites). She's played Lettice Douffet Lettice and Lovage, Desiree Armfeldt A Little Night Music, Miss Hannigan Annie, Antigone Antigone, and Meg in Crimes of the Heart, and loved The Norman Conquests because of the ensemble component and also because all three women were expatriates from England. It helped that Joanna Daniel and Colleen McClure were the other women. They also worked on Under Milkwood for Theatre Gael. She was last seen onstage at Manhattan’s Neighborhood Playhouse, because she was asked to be in the play and it was her first role, post colon surgery.

Reprising Shirley Valentine under Adriana Warner’s deft direction is a gift. It’s not often you get to bring experience, age and maturity to a role 10 years after you first tried it on for size. Shirley’s journey is more personal to her now. Lynne understands how we lose ourselves to certain definitions like cancer victim, sick person, poor soul and how liberating and life affirming it is to silence those identities and find your authentic self. Her journey continues to be comic and tragic, just like Shirley’s, and she hopes the climax of her life will be as wonderful as that in the play.

Adriana Warner (Director) has directed off-Broadway (The Encore Players), at regional theatres (The Cider Mill Playhouse and Cape May Stage), in Naples, Italy (Il Teatro Piccolo), and in Porto Alegre, Brazil (the 1964 English language premier production of Arthur Miller's After the Fall.) She came to Atlanta in 1986 as Director of the Academy Theatre's School of Performing Arts and appeared in their production of The House of Bernarda Alba and Les Liaisons Dangereuses. During her seven years as Artistic Director of Stage Door Players in Dunwoody, she directed some of her favorite scripts: The Lion In Winter, Shirley Valentine, and Camping With Henry and Tom. She recently directed A.R. Gurney’s Later Life at Kudzu Playhouse and has been lucky enough to sneak in a few acting gigs around town at Actor's Express, Horizon Theatre, Theatre Gael, Georgia Ensemble Theatre.

 

Woman in Black 

"You do believe the horror as it registers so palpably... vibrant performance by Stuart McDaniel, matched by the venerable Eric Brooks."  Sunday Paper, Bert Osborne

The only bad news: You'll have to pay for the whole seat, even though you'll rarely use more than the edge.' - CurtainUp

Just a great night of theatre. I was ssssssssssoooooo scared! LLM

A truly nerve-shredding experience' - Daily Mail

'The lights will be on in the parking lot after the show?' J.S.

'Don't go unless you like being scared out of your wits' - Sunday Mirror

'The most brilliantly effective spine chiller you will ever encounter...if you haven't seen this show yet you are missing a treat' - Daily Telegraph