Shirley Valentine a stage triumph

"In the middle of the road of my life I awoke in the dark wood when the true way was wholly lost." Dante Alighieri

We all start out with such good intentions.

And then, somewhere along the line — maybe at 40, maybe at 50, maybe on what had just seemed an average day — we look up and wonder: This is my life? How did I drift so far off course? Who am I?

It's like the Talking Heads song "Once In a Lifetime," where David Byrne says: "And you may ask yourself/What is that beautiful house?/And you may ask yourself/ Where does that highway go to?/ And you may ask yourself/Am I right? … am I wrong?/And you may say to yourself/ My God…what have I done?"

Shirley Valentine knows all about it.

A Liverpool housewife who stays in a stale marriage — in a stale life —because she can't imagine any other option, she has the terrifying thought that maybe, at age 42, the best years of her life are already behind her.

Her children are grown and gone. And her husband, as Shirley puts it, "likes things to be as it's always been." Romance has long left the marriage. At best, he takes her for granted. Shirley spends her days sitting in her kitchen, drinking wine, and talking to the wall.

COURTESY PHOTOS Lisa Morgan as Shirley Valentine. Her life has become very, very small.

And somewhere, in the midst of it all, she lost herself.

A number of events converge, inspiring her to act; when a friend offers her a free trip to Greece for two weeks, she surprises even herself and accepts.

It changes her life.

This remarkable one-woman play, written by Willy Russell, is running at the Fort Myers Florida Repertory Theatre. Due to popular demand, the show's been extended through June 13, and it's easy to see why. It stars the incomparable Lisa Morgan, one of Florida Rep's best actors, and who, I'm becoming thoroughly convinced, can do no wrong on stage.

There is not one false note in this performance, no sense of artifice or pretense.

The script calls for Ms. Morgan to not only talk to the wall but also address the audience. This could come across as a contrivance in the hands of a less-skilled actor. With Ms. Morgan, we simply get the feeling she's talking to us personally. It's as if we're sitting at her kitchen table having tea, and she's chatting with us one-on-one. She talks to the wall — and to us — as if it's the most natural thing in the world.

She's not pretending to be Shirley Valentine. For two hours, she is Shirley Valentine. And the audience quickly falls in love with her.

"Shirley Valentine" is the story of a woman who, realizing she's lost herself, bravely sets out on a journey to reclaim the woman she once was.

Over the course of two hours, she undergoes an amazing transformation, blossoming both physically and emotionally.

She first appears bedraggled and beaten down by life, clomping around her kitchen, preparing supper for her husband. Thanks to Roberta Malcolm's costuming, and Ms. Morgan's magical acting, she appears dowdy, almost mousy.

We can be forgiven for initially thinking that she's almost forgettable, because this is a woman who's forgotten herself.

But as she addresses the audience, we begin to see little sparks in her that she doesn't yet acknowledge. The audience is rooting for her long before she believes in herself.

Performing a one-person show can be an actor's most extreme challenge. There's no one else to distract us; all eyes are on the lone actor for the entire performance. And the actor must command attention and hold it for the length of the play.

Ms. Morgan is more than up to the challenge. From the very beginning, she grabs the audience's attention and never lets go. She gives such a rich, nuanced performance that I even stopped taking notes, for fear of missing something on stage.

Her pacing is perfect; Ms. Morgan creates a delicious sense of tension and anticipation with her stories and conversation. You're almost leaning forward in your chair, because you want to know what happens next.

This is a comedy that lives up to its name; on opening night, the laughs were strong and continuous (and especially hearty during the show's bawdier moments). Ms. Morgan's great comedic timing and delivery are perfectly complemented by her considerable physical humor. (Watch in the beginning as she pours herself some wine, reconsiders the glass, then pours some more.) And she delivers her humorous lines with dead sincerity, making them even funnier.

Yet this play contains dramatic moments in which Ms. Morgan simply and quite easily reaches into our chests and grabs our hearts. Her Shirley is so vulnerable, so naked in her yearning that we too, let down our defenses. And then Ms. Morgan goes in for the kill.

Though "Shirley Valentine" is a onewoman show, it's populated with many people. Like a skillful artist creating a drawing with a few, well-placed strokes of the pen, Ms. Morgan deftly creates various people in Shirley's life with a sudden change of demeanor and voice, whether it's a starchy, disapproving headmistress, or her young son woodenly acting in a Nativity scene. She even portrays a younger version of herself, instantly transforming from a middle-aged woman into a gum-chewing, leg-swinging, oh-so-bored-with-itall teenager. And Ms. Morgan somehow manages to make it all look effortless.

She creates a Shirley Valentine so real that we want to spend more than just two hours with her.

This Broadway-quality production is the perfect marriage of actor and script, and is not to be missed.

The same team of artists responsible for Florida Rep's productions of "Rabbit Hole," "Doubt" and "Dancing at Lughnasa" also worked together on "Shirley Valentine."

Maureen Heffernan directed with insight and innovation, Brian Maschka is stage manager, and Ray Recht designed the set. In Act I, we see Shirley's faded yellow kitchen. Behind it: a backdrop of gray, gritty apartment windows, looking almost like a monochromatic city version of Edward Hopper's "Early Sunday Morning."

In Act II, we're transported to Greece, with a stone patio and beach in the foreground and gleaming white buildings and an azure bay as a backdrop. Nelson Ruger's lighting helps recreate the sunny glow of Greece.

Ms. Morgan's one-woman show is a triumph of acting.

With "Shirley Valentine," she reminds us that it's never too late to fall in love with your own life.

If you go

>>What: "Shirley Valentine," starring Lisa Morgan
>>Where: Florida Repertory Theatre,
2267 Bay Street in the Arcade
Theatre in downtown Fort Myers
>>When: through June 13
>>Cost: $39, $35, $20
>>Info: 332-4488 or www.floridarep.org.