Outdated but well executed

“Shirley Valentine,” Willy Russell’s solo show about a lovable British housewife who kicks over her domestic traces in a big way while vacationing in Greece, was showered with awards, including a Tony, when first produced in the late 1980s.

Russell, whose long-running play “Educating Rita” was also made into a hit movie, has had his biggest successes tapping into the angst and disenfranchisement of working-class British women who flee repressive home lives and ride the postfeminist wave to new fulfillment.

Considering the play’s long and illustrious production history, it seems a bit belated to point out an obvious failing. But surely Russell’s annoyingly long-winded and reiterative text could have benefited from a pruning somewhere along the way.

The good news is that the play’s current production at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura features theater co-founder Karyl Lynn Burns reprising the role she first played during the Rubicon’s inaugural season in 1999.

The role of Shirley remains a richly comical tour de force for the right actress, and Burns is certainly that. Matter-of-fact and confiding, Burns captures the hilariously indomitable spirit of her trapped housewife, whose individuality has been eclipsed by her domineering husband and ungrateful children, now grown.

Although a bit too spruce for this working-class household, Tom Buderwitz’s finely detailed set neatly transforms from a claustrophobic kitchen to a sun-kissed Greek isle, an ambience excellently realized in Steven Young’s lighting design.

Yet director Greg Lee missed a bet by apparently setting the play in the present day rather than as a period piece. Despite Burns’ best efforts, Shirley’s feminist epiphanies sometimes seem a shade rusty and anachronistic, the musings of a sadly bygone era.

-- F. Kathleen Foley

“Shirley Valentine,” Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. In repertory; call for schedule. $25-$48. (805) 667-2900. www.rubicontheatre.org. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

*

An offer you can’t refuse

Just when Seth Isler gives up, “The Godfadda Workout” audience frenzy pulls him back in. Since 1996, actor-writer Isler has expanded his personal obsession with “The Godfather” into a singular display of amazing stamina and ample hilarity. Following a hit off-Broadway run, Isler returns to the Century City Playhouse in this one-man exorcism of Francis Ford Coppola’s movie.

Subtitled “A Parody in 12 Rounds,” “Godfadda Workout” was inspired by Isler’s need to erase Coppola’s film from his daily repertoire, after a 1984 revival cinema screening left him spouting scenes and characters 24/7. To halt this, Isler bargains with the unseen spirit of Don Corleone and bounds across the movie. At close, Isler has conquered his fixation and imperiled our kidneys by doing so.

Staged by Susan Jane Sullivan as a blend of “Your Show of Shows” and a gonzo industrial, “Godfadda Workout” pulls its slender premise past vaudeville into theater of the ridiculous. Many jokes require familiarity with the movie, yet the slapstick force that Isler, backed by invaluable fedora-topped stagehands, displays throughout is self-explanatory.

Brian King’s original music riffs on Nino Rota, and Bill Kickbush’s lighting scores many hits. True, “Godfadda Workout” is more a specialized showcase than a play. Yet it’s a screamingly funny showcase. More than just “Godfather” fans may find it an offer they can’t refuse.

-- David C. Nichols

“The Godfadda Workout: A Parody in 12 Rounds.” Century City Playhouse, 10508 W. Pico Blvd. 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Sept. 25. $30. (310) 204-4440. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.