Shirley Valentine with Sheridan Smith reviews

Reviews have dropped for the West End production of Shirley Valentine in London with Sheridan Smith – what did the critics make of it?

Willy Russell’s one-woman-play has been revived with acclaimed actress Sheridan Smith making her return to the West End in the role.

Shirley Valentine is the joyous, life-affirming story of the woman who got lost in marriage and motherhood, the woman who wound up talking to the kitchen wall whilst cooking her husband’s chips and egg.

But Shirley still has a secret dream. And in her bag, an airline ticket. One day she may just leave a note, saying: ‘Gone! Gone to Greece.’

The new production officially opened at the Duke of York’s Theatre this week and the reviews are out…

Shirley Valentine London reviews

The Guardian- 4/5
“The deeper, existential elements are powered by Smith’s disarming and quietly dazzling performance. She mines every ounce of cheeky comedy but also builds such surreptitious and organic emotional undercurrents that we buy every moment, and the play is eternally relevant.” – Read the full review

The Independent – 5/5
“Sheridan Smith and Shirley Valentine: it’s a match made in theatre heaven. Willy Russell’s 1986 one-woman play is a beloved British classic; Smith is a national treasure. It sounds like it should work, and it really, really does” – Read the full review

Financial Times – 5/5
“Smith single-handedly commands the stage in a transcendent performance as the disillusioned Liverpool housewife determined to unstick herself from a life glued to the kitchen.” – Read the full review

Daily Mail – 5/5
“So loved is Smith as Shirley that when she appears before the interval with suitcase and dressed for the airport, the sight of her costume alone wins a cheer. ” – Read the full review

The I- 4/5
“It’s a mighty ask for one performer to power through more than a hundred minutes of solo speaking on a West End stage, but one of Smith’s many triumphs is the way she looks up and around to make every tier of the audience feel so included.” – Read the full review

London Evening Standard – 4/5
“Willy Russell’s award-winning and hugely popular 1986 monologue about a Liverpool housewife finding herself in Greece now looks like a museum piece. It requires Smith’s specific talents to make it work and she turns it into a charming showcase for them” – Read the full review

The Telegraph – 4/5
“If we loved Smith before, we’re going to fall in love with her all over again. Playing a woman turning over a new leaf, she bustles about her spotless kitchen with consummate ease and vivacity, confiding her manifold unfulfilments as a wife and mother by way of a quirky address to the “wall”. It’s continuously enrapturing.” – Read the full review

Shirley Valentine plays Duke of York’s Theatre, London currently booking through to 3 June 2023.

Book Shirley Valentine London tickets here »