Shirley Valentine. How does Russell invite the audience to sympathise with Shirley?

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Shirley Valentine Essay

How does Russell invite the audience to sympathise with Shirley?

This essay will examine how Willy Russell uses a variety of devices to make the audience sympathise with Shirley Valentine. Shirley Valentine is about a middle aged housewife who is fed up with her life and finds herself talking to the wall while she prepares her husband's chips 'n' egg. But when her best friend wins an all-expenses-paid vacation to Greece for two, Shirley begins to see the world, and herself, in a different light. Flashbacks, monologues and voice-overs are all used to make the audience empathise with Shirley and think she is the heroine of the play as she changes for the better.

Willy Russell wrote Shirley Valentine and was influenced by his experiences of middle aged women. He was born in Whiston, which is approximately 8 miles away from Liverpool in 1947. Willy Russell left school at fifteen with only 1 O-level this is similar with Shirley. When he left school he first became a ladies hairdresser. He worked there for six years and he said this helped him become "a good listener". His job as a women's hairdresser helped him