Shirley Valentine - How do the dramatic techniques used in the play help the audience to understand the importance of Shirley's transformation?

Shirley Valentine

How do the dramatic techniques used in the play help the audience to understand the importance of Shirley's transformation?

In this essay I will be looking at how the dramatic techniques used in the play "Shirley Valentine" help the audience to understand the importance of Shirley's transformation.

In the play Shirley makes a very dramatic change. At the beginning of the play she was lonely, she was just an ordinary working housewife, her relationship with her husband Joe wasn't very good, she hardly went out and she talked to her kitchen wall. "There's a women three doors down- talks to her microwave...talking to a microwave Wall, what's the world coming to". This shows us that she thinks its normal to be talking to a wall but not to a microwave which makes the audience think that she is a bit weird and a "...nutcase..." which she gets called by her husband. When she goes to Greece that's when she starts to change. She is no more the housewife she used to be, shes finally happy, she goes out more, she starts living her life again and more importantly she becomes Shirley Valentine again. The audience feel by the end of the play that she changed her life for the better and that she overcame some of her fears by leaving her husband Joe to go to Greece.

The play "Shirley Valentine" was written by Willy Russel. His life experience influenced the play because for six years he did a jod he didn't understand or like. He also lived in Liverpool like Shirley. He used to work in hairdressers so he knew alot about women. Like Shirley he makes a big change in his life by moving away from the job he did for 6 years. The play is influenced by Kitchen Sink Drama it starts as a kitchen sink drama but ends optimistic. The similarities are that is starts like a kitchen sink drama and it is like a sink drama most of the time but near the end it changes. The differences are that it doesn't end like a kitchen sink drama it ends the opposite of the way that kitchen sink drama should end and it should never end but it does end. The play tells the audience about the lives led by working class women that they do alot of housework, dont go out very often and they do as thei husbands tell them to. Shirley's life is , she only does housework, talks to some of her neighbours and to her kitchen wall and sometimes she goes to the supermarket to buy food. Most of the time the working class women are not happy with their lives.

In the beginning of Shirley Valentine, Shirley appears doing housework. The pictures are water-painted and they all are blue. In every shot Shirley is doing some kind of housework like washing up, hoovering and washing the floor. This might mean that she does alot of housework and spends most of her time doing it.This al shows that she's a typical working class housewife and that she might be very clean due to spending most of her time at home and maybe she hasn't got anything better to do so she cleans. All the shots last for about 4 seconds and then they fade away to the next shot.The lighting is a bit dull. This gives the audience a image of Shirley's life being dull and that its all about housework and her family. The music that is playing on the opening credits is sad. The song tells the audience something about Shirley. It tells us that Shirley is going to change in some sort of way, we can tell this from this "... but Shirley's not there anymore". In the animation she appears with curly hair, long skirt and she looks a bit old fashioned, which gives the audience the impression of Shirley being an ordinary housewife which means doing housework and listening to your husband. When the last shot turns inot a real life picture we see a suburb street with semi-detached houses. When she enters her house, the house looks old fashioned and you cant really see her face when she enters the house which means she likes being in the dark and she might like her privacy and keeping a low-profile with the neighbours. When she enters the kitchen she sighs and puts her shopping bags down. This means that shes tired of doing this, because it's always the same daily routine and there is nothing new or exciteing for her to do.

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Russel uses flashbacks to show the audience the good and the bad memories of Shirley Valentines life. The first flashback in the play is the bloodhound flashback. This flashback shows us that Shirley is caring because she gives the hungry dog Joe's dinner. " That's Joe's tea your guzzling", this shows that she doesn't really mind the dog eating the dinner, This tells us that she might not like her husband that much. The flashback also tells the audience that Shirley is easily bossed around by everyone as gilligan asks her to do something she does it even thought Shirley doesn't like her. It also shows that Shirley's got a good sense of humour as when she says about the steak " its the eleventh commandment". Most importantly this flashback shows us that she is having trouble with her husband and a difficult relationship with him. The wine bar flashback shows us that Shirley doesn't come out much and that she's a bit behind. She always used to drink rum and coke before she went to this bar from then on she drinks wine. In this flashback Shirley believes that she is from an era where for women sex was not equally pleasurable and her daughter seems to know much more about these kind of things. Shirley's daughter Millandra shows disrespect and unpatient to her. In the 1965 flash back it shows Shirley having good time with her husband Joe. It shows us that she did have a good relationship with him. She used to be fun and so was Joe. They both also used to be very happy. They both enjoyed their lives with each other. " I love you...Shirley Valentine", this shows that he really used to love her and that their relationship was nice, strong playful and that there was affection. The last flashback is the school one. Shirley was underestimated by most of her teachers at school, they all thought she was a bad example and didnt know very much. The headmaster thought the worst of her. "someone must of told you...", this shows that they thought that Shirley wasn't clever at all and whenever she got something write they assumed that someone told her or she was cheating. Shirley was rebellious during her school years. " I became a rebel", this shows that she had enough of her teachers always bringing her down so she turned into a rebel. " I was marvellous". This shows that she liked the way she was when she was younger, because she had fun and she used to bully people which made her feel good and because she was a rebel and no-one could bossed her around like she gets bossed around by Joe. She also had a very low self-esteem while being in school and she always wanrted to be like Margarie just like Margarie wanted to be like Shirley.

When Shirley first arrives in the holiday resort in Greece she meets some new characters and the other side of her character comes out. When the holidaymakers arrive they are disapointed of where they are staying, because they all have been on so many better holidays then this, however Shirley was delighted, saying, "It was like I'd come to the far side of paradise and I loved it". This shows the audience that she is very happy to be there and that it was like paradise to her. Later on when Shirley is eating, Jeanette one of the holidaymakers comes to ask Shirley to sit with them so Shirley goes with her. After listening to the holidaymakers talking how they are dissapointed by Greece and how they don't like it. Through that Shirley was building up her anger inside and then she started saying all these good things about Greece and what they invented like, "...it was greeks who invented the olympic games". This shows that she is brave and her confidence is going up snd she is not going to allow people to boss her around anymore. She also mentions the wheel. Now she feels that people listen to her where as before in school no-one did and she is feeling proud of this and that she actually made her own point about Greece and everyone listened to her. This side of Shirley tells us that she can finally stand up for herself and not to be bossed around and she shows that she is very clever and knows alot of things and because in school teachers never really gave her a chance to speak and show her ability maybe now she feels its her time to show people the clever and confident side of Shirley Valentine.

In the play dramatic monologue and voiceover helps the audience to see and understand Shirley's character better, by telling us how she feels at that time and how she is. It lets her show the other parts of her character that she could not show around other people. It let's her express herself more and in more detail, for instants in scene 45, she is scared and worried, because she feels that she should of told her husband that she was going to Greece. "Oh God, I know I should have told him...". This shows us that she is showing guilt, but she does not tell this to the audience. This tells the audience that she doesn't really trust him. In scene 2 she has no-one to talk to . She is lonely. She talking to the camera (audience) so this makes it more personal. "Whats's wrong with that?". This shows that shes doing as if it is normal to talk to a wall, she is not embarrassed by this. She is also talking to the audience like they are her friends, this might be because she has noone else to talk to. In another scene she transforms from a negative Shirley to a postive Shirley. " Christ you're only 42..." This tells us that she is becoming proud of what she is and her self-esteem has rise. She no longer thinks that she is old. Another quote is " Isn't that marvelous?". This shows she is highly pleased of herself. In scene 58 even though she is in a different country she is still lonely. "I talk to you...rock". This shows that even though she is by herself, She can still be happy, where as before she was sad by herself talking to her kitchen wall.

Russell's use of setting highlightes the differences between Shirley in Greece and Shirley back in Liverpool by making Greece sound more funnier and nicer. In Liverpool it's set mainly interior on a suburb road, in Shirley's house. "... a street of small semi-detached houses". This shows the audience that is just another road in Liverpool and because its set mainly interior this tells us that most of the things will happen inside the house, however what we see in Greece is a beach with lots of people. Its set mainly exterior. This tells us that its a fun place and that most of the things might happen outside. The weather in Liverpool is cloudy, dull, cold and rainy most of the time. "... a grey day...a drizzle of rain". This might mean that Shirley's life also might be like that and that it might be very boring and dull where she lives, on the other hand in Greece the weather is very sunny and hot. This tells us that its a very bright and fun holiday and that its a big change from Liverpool and what she is used to. Shirley's clothes in Liverpool where a bit boring and too casual. This tells us that she doesn't really care about her looks and what seh wears and that she doesn't spend much time making herself look nice, but in Greece you can tell straight away that she puts more effort in what she wears and how she presents herself to the other holidaymakers. This might be another way she is changing by boosting her confidence and that its a fresh start for her as she is in another country.

The play is divided into alot of different scenes. There are 75 scenes in Greece and 57 in Liverpool. This tells us that most of Shirley's character development happened in Greece. It's telling us that Greece is much more important than Liverpool in this play. It also makes the pace slow in Greece, because Greece is slow paced. In Greece the flashbacks also end this tells is that Shirley does not need to look back in her life for the happy memories, because she is happy again. The climatic moments in the first half of the play are when Joe pushes the food and it appears on Shirley's lap, when she meets Margarine and finds out that she is a hooker and when Joe doesn't appreciate her, it shows the audience how he treats her.

My final impressions of Shirley's character is that she had the courage to move to Greece and leave her family behind. This shows the audience that its time for her to live her life again and be the Shirley Valentine that she used to be. It is as though Shirley went on a journey of self discovery going back to who she wants to be. The final scene with Joe shows us that she still loves Joe and wants him even though of all those things he used to say to her and how he treated her. "I didn't recognise you". This shows that she changed her appearance and looks much better than ever and Joe is shocked of how much she changed. Shirley is a very complicated character, and by putting Shirley in different places you can see other sides of her character and they become much clearer to the audience.

By Giedra Lukminaite 10N