Shirley Valentine at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

Doing a solo show is a marathon for any actor, and when it's a full-length play and you're delivering in a Scouse accent instead of your native Scots, even more so.

I could have done with Sally Reid projecting a bit more last night, but she has already received an Outstanding Performance Award from the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland as Shirley Valentine, so maybe I need my hearing checked! However, her accent is spot on and she often reminded me of Pauline Collins, who played the role in the 1989 film.

Willy Russell's play about a middle-aged woman finding herself after a life of drudgery has become a modern classic, but not having seen it for many years it now seems to me somewhat dated, more of a period piece. Sadly, there are plenty of women who are still tied to the kitchen sink and for whom travelling abroad is something only other people do. But then, they are not likely to be in theatre audiences either. So we're looking at how the other half lives and, hopefully, breaks free of their hum-drum existence to live the dream.

Shirley Valentine at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh until June 29.

Box Office: 0131 2484848

lyceum.org.uk