There are moments in theatre when a performance transcends the stage — when an actor’s heart, craft, and truth fuse so completely with a character that the line between performer and role disappears. Such was the magic of Shirley Valentine’s opening night at Brisbane’s Twelfth Night Theatre, where Natalie Bassingthwaighte delivered an incredibly heartbreaking, ethereal, and transformative portrayal of one of theatre’s most beloved characters.
Written by Willy Russell and directed with nuance and sensitivity by Lee Lewis, this West End and Broadway award-winning one-woman play tells the story of Shirley, a middle-aged Liverpool housewife whose conversations with her kitchen wall reveal both her loneliness and her unextinguished spark for life. When she’s invited on an impulsive holiday to Greece, Shirley’s quiet musings turn into a bold act of self-discovery — a reclamation of the woman she once was and the one she dares to become again.
Bassingthwaighte is nothing short of mesmerising. Known to many as a dynamic performer from The X Factor, Neighbours, and Rogue Traders, here she strips back every layer of celebrity and reinvents herself as the humble, yearning, hilariously honest Shirley Valentine. Her performance is rich with emotional texture — one moment, she has the audience roaring with laughter at Shirley’s sharp wit and dry observations; the next, she breaks hearts with the quiet ache of unspoken dreams and years lost to routine.
What makes Bassingthwaighte’s Shirley so extraordinary is her vulnerability. Alone on stage for nearly two hours, she commands the space with a rare intimacy, as if each audience member has been invited into her kitchen for a private confession. Every gesture, pause, and sigh feels lived-in. It’s a performance that’s both theatrical and profoundly human.
Lee Lewis’s direction supports this beautifully — never intrusive, always truthful. The pacing is finely tuned, allowing Russell’s words to breathe and Bassingthwaighte’s natural warmth to shine. The set design, simple yet evocative, mirrors Shirley’s transformation — from the dull confines of domesticity to the sunlit promise of freedom.
By the time Shirley stands on that Greek beach, we’re not just watching her rediscover herself — we’re cheering for every woman who’s ever wondered if it’s too late to begin again.
Shirley Valentine at Twelfth Night Theatre is more than a night at the theatre; it’s an awakening. Natalie Bassingthwaighte’s luminous performance is a triumph — soulful, funny, and deeply moving. She doesn’t just play Shirley Valentine; she becomes her.
★★★★½ — A breathtaking, heartfelt performance that will linger long after the final bow.
TICKETS
Now Playing until 9 November
Twelfth Night Theatre
All images Supplied.
The Fame Reporter 