Shirley Valentine Shirley Valentine Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell. Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife, it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad. Wondering what has happened to her youth and feeling stagnant and in a rut, Shirley finds herself regularly alone and talking to the wall while preparing an evening meal of egg and chips for her emotionally distant husband. When her best friend offers to pay for a trip-for-two to Greece, she packs her bags, leaves a note on the cupboard door in the kitchen,
Chico and Rita the others escape. Rita and Chico leave the rest of the party and go to a bar where Chico introduces her to bebop music, which she takes up quickly. Afterwards they go to Chico's place and spend the rest of the night together. The next day Rita wakes up to find Chico playing a new composition on the piano, which he names "Rita". As they play and kiss, Juana, Chico's former girlfriend, walks in and picks a fight with Rita. The two women angrily leave Chico, feeling betrayed. However, Chico is still smitten with Rita and begs Ramon to convince