DO you remember Jodie Prenger winning the role of Nancy in the West End production of Oliver! through the BBC television series I’d Do Anything in 2008? Well, Jodie Prenger can do pretty much anything on a stage.

Here in Yorkshire, you may have seen her as the pucker Lady of the Lake in Monty Python’s Spamalot, or as the American frontierswoman Calamity Jane, or as Muswell Hill-raised, New York City-living Emma in the one-woman musical Tell Me On A Sunday at the Grand Opera House in York last April.

Now, the Blackpool actress, singer and BBC Radio 2 presenter is turning her hand to another one-woman tour de force, the 30th anniversary revival of Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine, on tour at Leeds Grand Theatre this week.

Shirley Valentine was turned into a film starring Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Bernard Hill and Alison Steadman in 1989, but you really should catch the stage version, all the better for everything being seen through Shirley’s eyes, every character brought to life by vocal dexterity, and with the role now in the hands of the glorious Jodie, this really is Valentine’s day all over again.

Shirley is a Liverpool housewife trapped in a world of domestic monotony at 42; her children already grown up and no longer at home; her husband Joe in a rut of routine, expecting his set tea on the set table at the set time each day. If Shirley hasn’t yet been driven up the (gaudily coloured kitchen) wall, she is certainly talking to it – isn’t she, wall?

York Press:

Jodie Prenger's Shirley Valentine: "Fabulous fun to watch"

We follow Shirley’s progress through cooking chips and egg, when it should be steak today, as she describes her life, happier past and dreary present, with Joe; her son’s Nativity Play exploits back in the day; and her sudden chance to escape to a Greek island for two weeks with best friend Jane, without telling Joe, because she knows what he would say.

From the off, Prenger reveals a mastery of accents, from Scouse to Greek later on, allied to a dancer’s sense of movement around a stage, a gift for comedy and storytelling, and, importantly too, an emotional honesty. She is fabulous fun to watch; she relishes Russell’s sharp, yet blunt Liverpool humour, and all the while you wholly understand why her Shirley needs to be nurtured anew.

Once Shirley switches from chatting to the wall to conducting conversations with a rock in Greece, Russell’s play adds a tenderness to the mix of comedy and drama, and Prenger’s performance under the direction of Glen Walford blossoms all the more.

After the show on press night, Prenger could be found chatting with Leeds playwright Kay Mellor in the Dress Circle: a chance to catch up ahead of Jodie’s return to the Leeds Grand in the new musical version of Kay’s Fat Friends from November 11 to December 2.

Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine, Leeds Grand Theatre, tonight and tomorrow, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 848 2700 or leedsgrandtheatre.com