Hot on the heels of its enthusiastically received production of “My Fair Lady”, WRAPS Community Theater is excited to present the famous one-woman, two-act play “Shirley Valentine” this March.
The play will star award-winning local actress and director Mavourneen Varcoe-Ryan. This dynamo from Spences Bridge is no stranger to anyone who has enjoyed any of the many wonderful WRAPS theater productions over the past several years.
Mavourneen received her Bachelor in Fine Arts in Theater from the University of Victoria in 1980, and has been acting and directing ever since. Some highlights are her Theater BC Award for Best Actress in “Lovers” and Best Supporting Actress in “Remembrance” – both with Stage Eireann Players. With the success in directing “Canadian Gothic” for the Harrison Players which won several awards at the Theater BC Festival, Mavourneen began directing more, with many a delightful school Christmas piece taken to a higher theatrical level. Over the last 12 years Mavourneen has directed many shows for what was “YES” (Youth Entertainment Society) and WRAPS. Some of these very popular productions include “Grease”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Swamp Pirate Zombies” (which she says was just way too much fun), “Midsummer Nights’ Midterm”, “Switching Principles” and most recently the highly acclaimed local presentation of “My Fair Lady”.
Mavourneen will now get from behind the scenes and plant herself squarely in the center stage spot-light as she struts her stuff and displays her formidable acting chops in this wonderful one-character play. Written by Willie Russel, the play premiered in Liverpool in 1986 to rave reviews. It was adapted into a movie in 1989 and starred Pauline Collins, who starred in the original theater production.
The play is the story of Shirley Valentine, a middle-aged Liverpool housewife, who finds herself talking to the wall while she prepares her husband’s chip’n’egg, wondering what happened to her life. She compares scenes in her current life with what she used to be like and feels she’s stagnated and in a rut. 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.
The production will also feature the debut of Barbara Roden as the plays director. The set design and lighting, stage management and costuming will be again be undertaken by the same personnel that did such a fantastic job with “My Fair Lady” and with most of the other WRAPS Theater productions mentioned above.
There will be 2 showings at the HUB (former Ashcroft Secondary School) on Friday and Saturday evenings March 11 and 12. There will also be a special matinee performance on Sunday afternoon, March 13th. As have been all of the previous WRAPS theater presentations admission will be by donation. Be sure to check our website and Facebook page for further details as they become available.
One thought on “Mavourneen Varcoe-Ryan is “Shirley Valentine””
I helped out a little yesterday with setting up the stage and seating, and I have to say that an impressive amount of work as gone into getting this presentation ready. Kudos to Jim Duncan, Bruce Walker, Jessica Clement, Nancy Duchaine and to the many I others I am not aware of for such excellent work and dedication!