Shirley Valentine @ Centaur is BRILLIANT! EXHILARATING! UNFORGETTABLE!

BRILLIANT! EXHILARATING! UNFORGETTABLE! are just a few adjectives that accurately describe this production of Shirley Valentine. The play was written in 1988 by Willy Russell (Educating Rita 1981), both of these plays were made into films and both received Oscar nominations, has been cleverly updated with some 21st century pop culture references. B.C.'s Nicola Cavendish (Michel Tremblay's For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again) dazzles the audience in this award-winning performance (Jessie Richardson Award and Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance) as the central feature in this one women (one person) performance. Directed by Centaur's artistic director *Roy Surette this production is flawless in it's staging: light, costume, set, special effects design and ingenious blocking. Who would have ever thought so much could be achieved with just something so simple as the flick of a curtain.

Most of us know the film version of this story about fulfillment, as it appears frequently on cable TV, but it is in the rich text of the play that one truly captures the full essence of the plight of Shirley; her discovery of a life beyond her Manchester kitchen and rediscovery of herself, the sassy and tenacious Ms. Valentine. Don't be dissuaded from this production by the usual stigma attached to a one person performance, Nicole Cavendish brings enough creative energy and bodacious personality to her captivating interpretation to completely fill an ensemble cast. This is a performance that is truely transcendant to all demographics: male to female, young to old.

If you don't eat before the performance, like I did, you will revel at her on stage cooking skills turning the simple task of preparing and frying chips on stage into a culinary performance art form. So delectable is the finesse with which she prepares for tea that I can predict a flood of audience members heading directly to their local electric appliance store to purchase a 'Moulinex Supralys' deep fryer with their surplus C.T. dollars or left over bonus points accrued from their recent holiday season sale purchases. Talk about an economic stimulus package. Shirley Valentine playing at Centaur to February 22nd is an absolute treat and a must see play for Montreal theatre goers. Go See It!

* The USA opted for "change" in the 21st century on January 20th when Obama was sworn into office; With each new production at Centaur it becomes even more abundantly clear that with Roy Surette at the helm, and now deeply embedded into the Centaur house, that his appointment as artistic director was indeed "change we need".