Comparing Shirley Valentine and A Doll’s House
THE TITLE
What is the significance of her name? Can a comparison to be made with the title of A Doll’s
House?
THEMES
Discuss the following terms
 Monologue
 Housewife
 Working class
 Empowerment
 Middle-age
 Self-realization
Q: Are they relevant to both plays?
Q: What themes are explored in both plays? Are they relevant today?
Shirley Valentine is one of Willy Russell’s most famous characters: wise, funny and always
acerbic. She started her life full of passion and promise, but this spirit has been slowly and
gradually eroded beyond recognition by years of putdowns, a loveless marriage, domineering
children and forced complacency. Her journey of self-discovery is driven by the continual push and
pull between her sarcastic zest and her melancholic longing for a different way of life, a new way
of seeing and being seen by her world. The theme of
flight, be it from the self, a situation or from circumstance, is central in this play.
Q: Is it possible to describe Nora’s journey in a similar way?
LANGUAGE
What do these words mean?
• Mince
• Nark
• Elocution
• Deluge
• Begrudge
• Acropolis
• Fortnight
• Chuckie Egg
• Beano Annuals
• Janet Reger
• Horlicks
• The Marmite Tendency
• Parthenon
• Quizzical
Glossary of Liverpudlian phrases
made-up (to be very pleased about
something)
a cuppa (a cup of tea)
a nosh up (a very large meal)
berk (a dope)
big blow (someone who brags a lot)
binhead (a person who is not very smart)
bolshie (a pushy person)
bossy boots (a domineering child)
chip butty (a french fries sandwich on buttered
bread)
chucky egg (a soft boiled egg, mashed, with butter
)
clever clogs (a know-it-all)
crown jewels (head injuries)
"Doin' me 'ead in." ("Annoying me.")
dry sod (someone with a subtle sense of humour )
“Give us a squirt.” (“Pass the vinegar
bottle.)
gob (mouth)
gob shakes, to have (a compulsive talker )
jigger (an alley or passageway)
kex (men's trousers)
la (a friend)
long string o'misery (a whiner)
“Muck in, yer at yer granny's.” (Eat up.)
nark (a dispute, a quarrel)
queen of the wash house (a gossip)
skint (to have no money)
ta (thank you)
Tilly Mint (a woman who has ideas that are
grander than she could ever grasp)
water-tight door (a diaper)
firebobby (a firefighter )
Q: What significance can you find in the decisions the playwrights made about the
language used in these two plays? Remember we are reading ADH in translation.
FORM
Realism and Kitchen sink drama
Realism in drama was a revolt against the traditional forms of drama (e.g the Well-Made play with
its melodrama, over-embellished language, extreme emotions and a satisfyingly tragic ending).
The stories of Kitchen Sink Realism usually focus on a pessimistic working class man and his
social problems from within a mundane setting. Shirley Valentine obviously differs from this
tradition since it centers around the life and transformation of a woman. Unlike the work of ‘The
Angry Young Men,’ Willy Russell’s work
shows that anyone is capable of change, whatever obstacles may be in their path. Russell also
uses humour, a device often lacking in Kitchen Sink Realism. Despite the obvious differences,
there is a strong connection
between this tradition and Shirley Valentine. We are introduced to the social problems of our
working class heroine in her kitchen. Willy Russell quickly frees her from the dreary confines of the
Liverpudlian kitchen sink. Even at the beginning we can see the strong, rebellious and
independent aspects of Shirley’s character stand out against this domestic humdrum.
Q: Why did the writers choose these two genres to tell the stories of Nora and Shirley?
Q: Would you consider SV to be more “realistic” than ADH? Why?
Monologue
Shirley Valentine is an extended monologue in which the speaker, Shirley Bradshaw a middleaged housewife, grapples with her dreams and her realities. Over the course of her journey she is
able to see herself and the world with new eyes: she changes. Everyone has a wild and outlandish
dream or aspiration. Shirley wants “drink a glass of wine in a country where the grape is grown.
Sittin’ by the sea. Lookin’ at the sun.” Her husband would never go, yet her dream becomes a
reality.
Q: Why do you think Russell chose this form to tell SV’s story?
Q: How different would ADH have been if Nora had told her own story?
Q: Does Willy Russell effectively represent the voice of a woman?
Q: Does it make a difference that both plays are written by men? (See Russell’s comment
above)
Q: How did the film version of SV deal with the monologue form?
Comedy
Q: Why did Willy Russell choose a comedy to tell Shirley Valentine’s story?
Q: Does this form belittle or demean Shirley’s transformation?
Q: Does Russell intend her to retain her dignity? Or are we laughing at her?
Q: Does Ibsen intend us to see Nora as a tragic victim or as a foolish victim?
Q: Or do both characters grow in both self-importance and in how they are viewed by the
other characters?
CHARACTER
In literature, an archetype is a typical character, an action or a situation that seems to represent
such universal patterns of human nature. For instance: the villain, the mother figure, the hero, the
innocent etc.
Shirley Valentine is a story of a 42-year old housewife’s journey toward self-discovery. Is it
possible for you to relate to someone so different? Is she really all that different? She is from a
different time and place from most young viewers. Willy Russell believes his characters are
archetypes that speak to the audience on many levels. When asked how he could create such a
character he answered, “I’m as happy writing about a teenage boy from Manchester [in his novel
The Wrong Boy] as I am with the female parts. You just have to dare to know about whoever
you’re writing about.” As a playwright, Russell says that it is his job to engage his audience, since
he can only take his audience on a journey once he has them engaged. He continues, “I can’t
write an opening hoping that it will work. I have to write knowing that what I write will get an
audience.”
Archetype vs. Stereotype
In an interview with John Gill for the book Willy Russell and His Plays, Russell was asked if his
secret to success is rooted in his ability to create relatable archetype characters. He relied: “I think
it is the secret of all successful drama. Why is Willy Loman [Death of a Salesman] possible, and
rich as a character? Not because he is a stereotype, although lots of what he does is stereotypical.
More importantly he is an archetype, so he speaks to us at belly and heart level as well as a mind
level.”
Q: What is the difference between a stereotype and an archetype?
Q: Is Shirley Bradshaw an archetype? Is Shirley Valentine an archetype? Or, does the
combination of these different facets of her personality make her a rich character to whom
we can relate?
Q: What are the differences/similarities in the ways the key characters are introduced in
these two plays? Do we relate to them? Does it matter?
The Men
Q: Are the men portrayed as oppressive ogres or as victims of their own time as much as
the women?
Q: Do the playwrights want us to have any sympathy for them?
The Friends
Q: What parallels can you see between the portrayal of Mrs Linde and Gillian?
The Children
Q: How absent/present are they?
Q: What kind of relationship do the two women have with their children?
Q: What are the children used to show about the characters of Nora and Shirley?
Task: Create a character sketch for Nora and Shirley; Costas, Joe and Torvald; Mrs Linde
and Gillian
STAGECRAFT
Objects
Shirley, for lack of companionship, finds herself talking to the inanimate objects around her. Is
there any significance in the other objects in the play? silk robe from Gillian, the two piece bikini,
the glass of wine, the parasol, the calamari or even the “chuckie egg.” ?
Q: What significance do these objects have?
Q: Are there similar objects in A Doll’s House? What purpose do they serve?
The Set
Read the Guardian’s review of Carrie Cracknell’s staging of A Doll’s House
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jul/10/dolls-house-young-vic-review
What interesting comparisons can you make between the use of the set in the two plays?
Think about the two film versions you have watched. In particular, consider why the film
version of Shirley Valentine chooses to travel to Greece.
STRUCTURE
Q: How does the structure of Shirley Valentine differ from ADH?
Q: How is Shirley’s journey revealed? Does she have a similar moment of anagnorisis?
Q: Do the plays begin in a similar way?
Is SV as ambiguous as ADH? Is the audience expected to feel that she has lost more than
she has gained? Or is this an upbeat, positive ending? Is it the ending you wanted?
Task: Complete a tension grid for each act of Shirley Valentine
CONTEXT
The 1980s were a decade of great change in Britain, including economic growth, a trend of
privatization and the rise of feminism. The political climate drove dramatists to question the terms
of choice and permission in the national and sexual economic revolution and their plays explored
gender construction and sexual possibility. Examine the social, historical and literary context of
Shirley Valentine. Make notes on the following:
• Attitudes towards women
• Marriage
• The working class
• Willy Russell
• Liverpool in the 1980s
• Kitchen-Sink Realism
Q: Are there any similarities to 19th-century Norway?
Q: How does this context illuminate your understanding of the plays?
Writing a review
Entertainment Weekly critic described the 1989 film version of Shirley Valentine as having
“Talented actors stumbling through clichéd plot twists (Shirley's nemeses actually envy her), flat
one-liners (“Marriage is like the Middle East--there's no solution”), and pithy self-affirmations (“I’ve
fallen in love with the idea of living”) that undermine any genuine feminist sentiments.”
Q: What did you think of the film’s interpretation of the play? Do you agree with this
criticism of the text?
Review of Meera Syall in Shirley Valentine
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/shirleyvalentineeducating-rita-menier-chocolate-factory-london-1942841.html
The two film versions you have watched are:
Shirley Valentine (1989)
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Starring Pauline Collins as SV; Tom Conti as Costas.
A Doll’s House (1973)
Director: Patrick Garland
Starring Claire Bloom as Nora; Anthony Hopkins as Torvald