By Rita Moran, Theater critic Ojai Valley News
“Shirley Valentine” offers a tempting psychological boost for any woman considering a life-changing moment from irritatingly dull to dramatically vibrant.
Actor Anna Kotula, the sole presence on stage for the two-act play at Ojai Art Center Theater through Feb. 16, embraces the challenge.
First, she portrays a housewife whose children are grown and gone but whose husband is persistently bothered by an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Later, freed from her past, she’s a sunny and joyful soul who finds tempting new options on a Greek island.
Kotula, seen in a preview performance early last week, depicts a nerve-wracked Shirley aware that the irritating situation is making her feel far from her years-ago sunny self. She’s tasked with keeping her husband fed with his favorite eggs and chips in the on-stage family kitchen where she’s found as the play opens. Her travails are etched throughout the first act.
Never far from the stove in the first act, Shirley tosses and stirs and, under her breath, mutters about the overall irritation of the situation. In a tense but lilting voice, her Irish accent brisk and convincing without approaching parody, she illustrates her frustration.
An opportunity to escape her increasing frustration pops up when a friend suggests she join her on a trip to a Greek island where scenery and relaxation could soften the wrinkles of time. It takes Shirley a while to take that challenging change of scenery, but toward the end of the first act she has donned a travel-oriented outfit and is ready to take off on the adventure.
In act two, Shirley has arrived at the sandy, sunlit island. But her friend has skittered off to her own idea of life-change and Shirley is left at the beach. There she basks under the sun and soaks in the rippling water, free from the tension and dreariness of her life back home.
Soon, she’s not alone, although audiences never see the Greek tempter who eases into her life.
Island leisure has made Shirley consider what could lie ahead for her, whether on a Greek island or anyplace else that she could lead a life that cheers instead of depresses her.
Pairing with the performance by Kotula are a raft of essential talents, notably director Steve Grumette, a longtime booster of well-wrought theatrical productions in Ojai, bringing experience from his years in the film industry. Kotula is joined by Richard Sven Shelgren as producer. Bianca Rice’s set designs make the change from the crowded little kitchen to the open stretches of beach particularly striking.
Clearly the production is the result of talented teamwork, but it’s Kotula’s solo performance that makes it stand out, along with the impressive teamwork. It’s not easy to talk almost continuously for two hours, even while considering the pressures of a changing life.
Kotula makes it work.