Blogs

Whatsonstage.com Club Outing to Educating Rita

| London's West End |

3 September 2010

Last night Whatsonstage.com theatregoers returned to Trafalgar Studios to see Educating Rita, the second part of our Willy Russell season and not only did we enjoy a fantastic piece of theatre but we were also treated to a really interesting post show Q&A with the two stars.

Like Shirley Valentine, Educating Rita is an exploration into one woman’s search for meaning in life and while Shirley finds meaning on a Greek Island the leading lady in last night’s piece, Rita (Laura Dos Santos) finds meaning through literature and more specifically through studying literature at an open university. Her path of self-discovery is inevitably complex but true to style Willy Russell has made sure that you both laugh and cry throughout this compelling story. Tim Pigott-Smith plays Rita’s washed out lecturer (who once hoped to be a poet) with touching honesty and the chemistry between these two actors makes for a wonderful evening’s entertainment.

Following the show Pigott-Smith and Dos Santos both joined us for a relaxed Q&A and let us in on the secret of the shared prop, why the wanted to be involved in this project and which of the Ritas they like best. A podcast from this Q&A will appear in the news section of the site shortly and are definitely worth a look.

Please do feel free to email your comments and thoughts about the play, as well as any photos you have of the event and the evening through to feedback@whatsonstage.com, we love to hear from you.

Thanks for joining us for this event, and do check the homepage to keep up to date on all of our upcoming Outings.

– Laura Norman

Laura is the Club Manager of Whatsonstage.com