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Shirley Valentine comes to town
After the sell out success of Whangarei Theatre Company’s production of Cats, Forum North is aiming to give theatre goers in Northland a winter of entertainment.
Bogwood Productions will be starting their season of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet from 24 June, followed by Willy Russell’s play Shirley Valentine on 16 August.
Shirley Valentine was written by the great English playwright, Willy Russell (Educating Rita, Blood Brothers), and adapted for the film that made Pauline Collins famous in the ‘80’s.
The story of an ordinary housewife, who on a journey of rediscovery finds herself anew. Poignant, and very funny, Shirley Valentine addresses contemporary issues in a very entertaining way. “Shirley is really non-judgmental, and she doesn’t blame anyone for her situation. She questions life, the meaning of it, and whether we use it”.
Auckland actress Nancy Schroder will be Shirley Valentine and the last time Nancy performed this show was to a nine night sell-out season in Auckland.
“The play is almost like a conversation with a best mate, over a glass of wine” says Nancy, “the best mate is the audience, it’s lovely because you’re not pretending the audience isn’t there, you are talking to them.”
“This is a play with wide appeal; both men & women seem to enjoy the humour equally.”
Trained in England, Nancy Schroder has been a professional dancer, choreographer and actress for over 20 years; appearing in film & television including Hercules, Shortland Street, Rainbow Warrior, We’re here to Help..and as a stage actress for Mercury Theatre, Auckland Theatre Company and Court Theatre in Christchurch.
Nancy made her debut with ATC as Nadya Krupskaya (Lenin’s wife), in the production of Travesties (2002). For Nadya, Nancy had to learn Russian, which was nothing compared to the challenge of learning 35 pages of non-stop dialogue for the wonderful Shirley Valentine.
Along with the theatre, there will be Rod Stewart and Johnny Cash tributes, classical music by both Northland and international acts and plenty of dance and disco to keep the winter chills at bay.
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