Palmerston North actress Gael Haining Ede to play Shirley Valentine

Palmerston North actress Gael Haining Ede will star in Shirley Valentine next month. Photo / Judith Lacy

Long-time theatre collaborators Gael Haining Ede and Damian Thorne are back, this time with the play Shirley Valentine.

Written by Willy Russell, the comedy premiered in Liverpool in 1986.

Thorne says the play hasn't been done in Palmerston North since the 1980s. "It's just as delightful today as it was then." It is a relatable, rare piece of writing, a life-affirming script.

Thorne will produce and direct, while Haining Ede will play Shirley in the one-character play. She can't relate to Shirley Valentine as a housewife, but says like the fictional Liverpool woman she is riddled with self-doubt.

Thorne says Shirley is an ordinary woman who forgot how to love life, love herself and how to laugh. The ThorneStar production is billed as "fall in love with the idea of living".

Haining Ede says the classic piece is about relationships and ordinary people.

"She's the most ordinary woman in the world but she tells you everything about relationships. She's marvellous, I love her to bits."

Haining Ede says the play is as relevant to men as it is to women. While the vehicle is a middle-aged woman, men can relate to Shirley as they have felt the same emotions.

Asked why he cast Haining Ede as Shirley, Thorne says she's the best actress in Palmerston North. She knows when not to go too far, what nuance means and has great comedic timing.

Haining Ede says appearing in a one-actor play is challenging as there is no one to save you, you have to be completely self-reliant. But this is also one of the joys as you get to deliver the whole character, to mine the subtext, and become completely immersed with no distractions.

"You just become the play which is glorious."

Plus, it is also exciting to be able to remember the lines and know she doesn't have Alzheimer's yet, she says.

Haining Ede and Thorne have a long history of collaboration. In 2010 and 2017, Haining Ede played English professor Vivian Bearing, who is battling ovarian cancer, in Wit. Both productions were directed by Thorne and in the second Haining Ede was the only performer on stage.

He directed her in We'd Quite Like to Apologise. It was written for TV but they made it their entry in a one-act play competition.

Other collaborations include The Little Dog Laughed, Quilt, and The Woman in Black.

In Equus, Thorne played a troubled teen while Haining Ede took on the role of the psychiatrist, traditionally a male part.

The pair co-wrote Borscht, a comedy murder-mystery musical with six different endings.

They met when Thorne was 17 and appearing in a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Haining Ede's daughter. It wasn't friendship at first interaction, but soon after.

The Details
What: Shirley Valentine
When: Nov 11, 12, 7.30pm; Nov 14, 2pm and 6pm; Nov 18, 19, 7.30pm; Nov 20, 4pm and 7.30pm
Where: 409 (409 Church St)
Tickets: shirleyvpalmy@gmail.com or 020 4111 2349