Willy Russell’s 1986 monologue is addressed to a kitchen wall. Stuck with domestic chores and a rigid catering schedule – if it’s Thursday, it must be mince – the 42-year-old Shirley Bradshaw has no one else to talk to. The chat is not great, but at least the wall won’t answer back.
In the title role of Elizabeth Newman’s heart-rending production, Sally Reid treats the idea lightly. Her Shirley is bright enough to know talking to the wall is as whimsical as it is desperate, a joke made humourless by repetition. She glides over it for the bittersweet foible it is.
