Educating Rita

Synopsis

Educating Rita is the unforgettable story of the relationship between a feisty Liverpudlian hairdresser and a jaded university professor. Rita has a passion for literature and is intent upon self-improvement. Frank's disillusionment with live has driven him to the bottle. As Rita grapples with the trials of education, Frank learns to believe in himself again. Originally commissioned by the RSC, the show won the 1980 Society of West End Theatres award for Best Comedy and Best Play. Since this time, Educating Rita has never been out of production somewhere in the world. The film version which starred Julie Walters and Michael Caine was Oscar-nominated and won three BAFTA awards.

Our Review:

Roz Carter - 21 May 2012

Willy Russell’s Educating Rita is the intellectual’s Pygmalion; a disillusioned professor teaching a spirited but poor young woman how to better herself. But rather than focusing on elocution and poise, Russell’s Rita wants to become an intellectual heavyweight and so she starts an Open University course, landing the drink-addled Frank as her tutor.

Mathew Kelly and Claire Sweeney take on the roles of Frank and Rita with excellent comic timing and quick paced wit. Kelly’s gruff voice and slightly drunken mannerisms fit the character of a musty, disillusioned academic and it really feels as though the producers have pulled him straight out of the lecture hall and pushed him on stage. His warmth means that he lacks the glint of true self-destruction that so many addicts have, and so the audience never truly gets pulled in to his story. But that’s okay as this is Rita’s show.

Sweeney is perfect as Rita. She is full of ...

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