THIS week, the King’s Theatre, in Edinburgh, presents Willy Russell’s famous play “Shirley Valentine”, writes our theatre critic Kerry Black.

Most folk will have seen Pauline Collins in the film version with its amazing cast of supporting actors.

Pauline was lucky enough to have played the part in the West End and even on Broadway (winning a Tony), before starring in the film. Like most of the audience, I knew the story in advance, but I was amazed to discover that the original play is in fact a one woman play!

Starring the amazing Jodie Prenger, who most folk will remember as the winner of “I’d Do Anything For You”, where Andrew Lloyd Webber asked the audience to select their ideal Nancy for Oliver! in 2004, Jodie has gone on to carve out a stellar musical theatre career.

However, nothing prepared me for this performance. A true comedienne, she played the role of the disaffected, lonely Liverpool housewife with great humour and incredible compassion.

The opening scene takes place in Shirley’s dream orange pine kitchen as she prepares egg and chips for her husband. This must be the first play I have ever seen where the character peeled tatties, chipped them, cooked them and fried eggs on stage, all the while telling us about her friends, her childhood, her family and her longing to squeeze just a wee bit more form her life than talking to tatties and even to her kitchen wall. Realising that neither Rambo nor the Milk Tray Man are going to burst through the scullery door and carry her off, Shirley, armed only with a pile of posh Markies knickers and her snooty neighbour Gillian’s silk wrap, decides to “go with the grape” and heads to the sun, for a fortnight in Greece, without telling her family first…..

The second act finds Shirley on the beach, where she proceeds to recount her misadventures with her Greek lover after her friend dumped her at the airport for a man! The beauty of the piece, lies in Prenger’s ability to take on every character; we all know a Duggie and Jeanette, who want to enjoy a foreign holiday as long as everything is thoroughly British. Jodie uses her physicality well, as the buxom heroine, we can feel the sand between her toes and the yearning in her heart as she talks to a rock (which must surely have escaped form a 1970 Dr Who episode).

The play ends with Shirley sitting on the beach waiting to welcome her husband, realising her own strength and the power of egg and chips!

Willy Russell has written some of the most incredible female characters ever, ranging from Julie Walter’s titular role in Educating Rita, to a whole host of women who have starred in Blood Brothers. Jodie Prenger’s portrayal of Shirley deserves a special award – well would you swap your fitted units for a life frying eggs in paradise?

Shirley Valentine is on at the King’s Theatre Edinburgh until Saturday 3rd June at 7.30 nightly, plus a 2.30 Saturday matinee. Call 0131 529 6000 or go to edtheatres.com to book.