'Shirley Valentine' comedy in cabaret

One of the theatre’s best loved characters is returning to the Port Elizabeth stage next week in Shirley Valentine – The Cabaret Cut, adapted and performed by Niqui Cloete-Barrass.

Cloete-Barrass, performer and owner of Boost Creative Solutions, presents the “funny, feely and utterly fabulous” cabaret version of Willy Russell’s timeless classic on Wednesday and Thursday, May 3 and 4.

This time around it is a fundraiser – with the accent on fun – in aid of the Smile Foundation, hosted by Mimi Rupp and her dinner club members.

Cloete-Barrass won great acclaim – including taking a Showtime Award for Best Professional Actress – for her performance as Shirley Valentine in the original stage play version in 2011.

In the “Cabaret Cut”, she performs the juiciest bits of the play, interspersed with gorgeous songs to comment on Shirley’s journey through the trials of love, midlife and self-discovery.

It is full of pithy one-liners such as “marriage is like the Middle East – there’s no solution”.

For anyone who feels like a middle-aged clicheé; for anyone who sees him or herself heading for a life that is “like Sainsbury’s – overrated”; for anyone who has ever asked the question, “what happened to ME?”, this show will probe those sore points and thwack those funny bones mercilessly.

Shirley Valentine – The Cabaret Cut will be at Dolphins Leap Conference Centre from 6pm for 6.30pm. Guests are asked to bring a picnic basket with eats and drinks (and utensils) but platters can be ordered too.

The dress code is “Greek Isles” and tickets are R1200 per table of 10, or R120. each.

For tickets and more information contact: Mimi Rupp, 082-460-4924, e-mail: or Lowrezel Jansen van Vuuren, 082-215-5212, .