![]() ![]() This hilarious and heart-warming comedy won the Olivier Award when it was produced in London’s West End by the RSC and was adapted into the multi award-winning film which starred Julie Walters and Michael Caine. Her tutor Frank is a frustrated poet, brilliant academic and dedicated drunk who’s less than enthusiastic about taking Rita on but when these two people come together they soon realise how much they have to teach each other. Fortunately, the discussion has become more sophisticated since then.When married hairdresser Rita enrols on a university course to expand her horizons, little does she realise where the journey will take her. Thirty years ago, that was enough to reduce me to tears. In Educating Rita, an oppressed woman finds her strength. Lewis hits Rita’s chirpiness a bit hard-greater vulnerability would yield more charm-but her timing is sharp and it’s moving when her Rita cracks emotionally.Ĭayman Duncan’s sound design, which features indie pop and folk bands including La Roux and Daughter, is fun, but you don’t buy tickets to listen to the music they play during the scene changes. Holly Lewis is playing Rita and her head must be spinning.īellis is a fine actor and his Frank is seamlessly naturalistic. Bellis played Frank on opening night, but he’s got another gig, so he will only be Frank until October 3, when Ted Cole, who is learning the part, takes over. Scott Bellis has played the role before, so he was able to step in on short notice. Next up, Jonathan Holmes bowed out for unspecified reasons four days before the opening. Because of a family crisis, Tom Scholte, who was originally cast as Frank, had to withdraw the day before rehearsals started. So the script is creaky, but the production is okay-even though rehearsals must have been a nightmare. Rita and Frank talk about Howard’s End, Peer Gynt, and Macbeth, but their discussions are so superficial that Rita’s supposed academic advancement appears to be little more than a sentimental fantasy. In Act 1, the play’s hymn to the glories of education feels bogus. And her native intelligence is presented as being virtually unique among the working class. ![]() Sounds filthy, dunnit?”-Rita plays the minstrel. But from my middle-class Canadian perspective, Russell’s portrait looks condescending. Russell grew up on a housing estate and became a hairdresser at 15, so it’s safe to assume that he’s familiar with Rita’s milieu. Russell’s characterization of Rita is problematic too, but in a more complicated way. Divorced, he is now living with a former student, and although he’s much older than Rita, and he’s her prof, he hits on her mercilessly-and the play doesn’t contextualize this abuse of power as anything to be concerned about. Rita’s working-class vivacity and her stated intention to learn “everything” charm Frank and revive his interest in teaching.īut let’s face it: Frank is a creep. In playwright Willy Russell’s 1980 variation on Pygmalion, a 26-year-old Liverpudlian named Rita signs up for an English-lit course at the Open University and ends up in weekly private tutorials with a jaded, alcoholic professor-and embittered former poet-named Frank. I remember when Educating Rita looked progressive-which means that I’m really, really old. At the Granville Island Stage on Wednesday, October 1. Directed by Sarah Rodgers. An Arts Club production. ![]()
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