Pauline Collins was a unique phenomenon: a superb light-comedy actress \u2013 as she described herself \u2013 who was unerringly able to reach emotional depths that reduced the stoniest-hearted of audiences to tears. She did this supremely, of course, in Willy Russell\u2019s Shirley Valentine, the one-woman play in which I directed her in the West End and on Broadway. This performance was so natural, so deftly balanced between innate cheekiness and a devastating awareness that her life was about to pass her by, that many people assumed it was effortless.<\/p>\n
On the contrary: she found it hugely challenging. Though she knew the play was a masterpiece, the prospect of doing it filled her with dread. Rehearsals were far from easy. The play is essentially a comic monologue and calls for very particular skills not possessed by all actors. I forced the poor woman to come into rehearsal every day and tell a new joke \u2013 torture for her, second nature to Shirley. Then there was the matter of getting her to credibly cook egg and chips while telling the story of her life. I knew she had to get all of that \u2013 the jokes and the chips \u2013 into her bones before she could stand before us as a three-dimensional person telling us deep truths about her life and the lives of millions of other women, all the while preparing the evening meal. As she struggled, Willy Russell began to have doubts about having cast her. \u201cShe\u2019ll be fine,\u201d he said, \u201cbut she won\u2019t be Shirley.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the first preview, the onstage lights suddenly crashed after three minutes. Out of the dark came the voice of Shirley Valentine: \u201cHey! Wha\u2019s going on? I paid me electric bills, right up to date.\u201d Huge laughter from an audience that realised she was improvising, a thing she had dreaded all her acting life. Willy grasped my arm in the dark and whispered urgently: \u201cShe\u2019s got it. That\u2019s pure Shirley. There\u2019s nothing to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immense range \u2026 Pauline Collins with Ben Chapman in Shades at the Albery theatre, London, in 1992, directed by Simon Callow. Photograph: Donald Cooper\/Alamy<\/p>\n
In life, she was irresistible: kind, outrageous, sexy, loving, wickedly funny. We first met when I was cast opposite her in Bernard Slade\u2019s Romantic Comedy<\/a>. The director invited us both to supper. \u201cSo, you\u2019re a poofter, then, are you?\u201d she said, before I sat down. I confessed that I was. \u201cGood, right,\u201d she said briskly. \u201cGot that out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n