Educating Rita

Willy Russell is a brilliant British writer with hits like John, Paul, George , Ringo, and Bert (1974) , Educating Rita (1980) , Shirley Valentine (1986) and Blood Brothers (1983) all with Liverpudlian characters. But it is perhaps the fabulous film of Educating Rita with Michael Caine and Julie Walters in 1983 that he is best known for, and that movie sets the benchmark for any actors playing Frank and Rita. They all have strong characters with the distinctive accent, good comic touches and emotional heart that engages the audiences and need actors who can deliver that combination.

Maidenhead Drama Group rose to the challenge very well in this short run at the Old Court black box venue in Windsor. Simply set and lit with black drapes framing the furniture of Frank’s tutorial room , there is enough to be evocative of the University Lecturer’s failing career and the space is well used by the Directors with a delightful juxtaposition of the two characters at their desks in the second act which beautifully signals their changing relationship.

It is a very episodic play following their relationship over many months with each scene top and tailed by Rita’s entrance and exit from the room and both characters wear the same clothes in each act which means we have no real sense of time or change except through their words. Some variation in lighting, costume or props might have assisted the sense of time passing. The Directors and Rita deliver the message of the emergence of a bright woman from the eighties class system and institutionalised education with an engaging clarity doing justice to the play although not quite overcoming the comparison to the 1983 film version! Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable and well produced show.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.