Theatre

YANICK MACDONALD Enlarge Image

Nicola Cavendish in Shirley Valentine.

Nicola Cavendish has played Shirley Valentine for over 20 years and says she’s still learning from the show — and from her character.
   
Even after the most difficult year of her life — the British-born, B.C-based actor suffered a brain hemorrhage in May 2011 and her husband, Michael Henry Wilmot, died in July — Cavendish says she’s looking forward to stepping into her favourite role.
   
"Performing this show is the best medicine for me," Cavendish says.
   
"If ever there was a show that would fill my barrel with love, it’s this show.
   
"MTC has very generously sidestepped our contractual arrangement. I applaud them for recognizing my situation."
   
Cavendish has been granted Saturday nights off during Shirley’s 24-day Winnipeg run — an acknowledgement that the actress may not be up to two shows a day (MTC’s mainstage productions typically offer matinée and evening performances on Saturdays) after such a trying year.
   
Fellow British-born, B.C.-based actor Ellie King will play the title role in the Jan. 14, 21 and 28 evening productions of Shirley Valentine.
   
This appearance of Shirley Valentine is actually a reprise of the show that first graced MTC’s stage in 1992.
   
Written by British playwright Willy Russell, the monologue tells the tale of Shirley Bradshaw, née Valentine, a stuck-in-a-rut Liverpool housewife who jumps at a chance to use her "unused life" when her best friend wins a trip for two to Greece.
   
Initially produced at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre in 1986, the show became a sensation in London’s West End and on Broadway, earning actor Pauline Collins a 1989 Tony Award for her performance.
   
In Canada, it is Cavendish who has made the role of Shirley her own. She starred in play’s Canadian premiere at Vancouver Playhouse in 1990, and has portrayed Shirley over 600 times.
   
"It’s become a really familiar dance for me but, with time passing, it becomes a richer and a much more complicated dance, as well," says Cavendish, 59.
   
"The whole relationship to the content of the play, for me, changes as I get older. I’ve gained perspective. The undercurrent of the piece addresses the whole idea of how even though we value the life we have, we don’t really value it.
   
"As time passes, you come to appreciate just how extraordinary a gift life is. That’s certainly been the case for me."
   
It’s also been the case for director Roy Surette, stage manager Rick Rinder and costume designer Phillip Clarkson, who have also been with the Canadian production of Shirley Valentine since the start.
   
Familiarity plays a big part in the production from personnel right down to our most basic senses.
   
"In Act 1 I cook a meal which the audience smells and in the intermission, they all want to go out and have egg and chips," Cavendish says.
   
"People have told me that after the show they’ve gone home and had a nice fried-egg sandwich with a cup of coffee.
   
"Those are the best compliments to me."
   
While she openly acknowledges that last year was a tough one for her, Cavendish is a 35-year pro who knows the show must go on. And, unfortunate events and age aside, she’s still the same Shirley.
   
"She’s a little different physically, but she’s still got the same heart, soul and spirit — and a darn fine wig," Cavendish says.
 

Shirley Valentine
Manitoba Theatre Centre
Jan. 5 - 23, John Hirsch Mainstage