Educating Rita

Willy Russell’s modern classic was given a polished airing from the good people at Stage 2 Downham. The play still has much to say on the topics of class, literary judgement, education, social expectations and artistic frustrations, despite being over 40 years old. This production successfully navigated the choppy waters of contemporary mores while maintaining the central themes of the piece and for this, Stage 2 are to be applauded. Cheeky hairdresser ‘Rita’ has a yearning for a more educated life (and to find ‘better songs to sing’), turning to the Open University - in the form of jaded alcoholic has-been lecturer, Frank - to find a new path. With a touch of Pygmalion and a dash or two of 1980’s social comment, this is a play which has stood the test of time. 

The set was very well put together and the staging was well considered. I thought that having the ‘window’ as the fourth wall was particularly ingenious, as it meant that when Rita’s dialogue came to mention the world beyond - full of the entitled and the well educated - extra chuckles were guaranteed as it took in the audience: a very clever directorial touch. I was initially a bit baffled as to why what could be considered the ‘outside corridor’ to Frank’s office, was visible on stage right but it did allow the audience to see Rita struggle with Frank’s wonky study door, so all was well. Frank’s office was well appointed and although I would rather have seen a few more books (and bottles of booze!) it served its purpose very well and looked the part. As the play is centred around this one set, it has to look good and Stage 2 made sure that the audience felt comfortable in their surroundings and were drawn in to the goings-on on stage. An extra pleasure came from spotting contemporary 1980s pop tunes during scene and costume changes: very well considered musical choices, grounding the piece in its original 1980 setting. 

This is quite a long play (by modern standards) and the dialogue is shared solely between our two performers. Those of us in the know in the world of am dram are aware of the fact that this is a huge undertaking and something of a mammoth task. Our two performers did a fantastic job of mastering the dialogue and of imbuing their character roles with real feeling: a very rare achievement indeed which should be applauded. Frank was played with a faded dignity by Richard Hubbard, skewering the character’s disappointed literary ambitions very nicely. Richard was a serious and solid presence on stage throughout and brought out the humour of the piece with a delicately shaded performance. Jennifer Whiteside excelled as Rita and brought the audience along with her on her comical journey of self-discovery and literary self-improvement. Mastering the accent with ease, Jennifer was a little whirlwind of energy throughout the evening. Both Jennifer and Richard worked really well together on stage and had also directed the production between them. The chemistry on stage reflected this close collaboration and the two performers are to be congratulated for their hard work and determination which resulted in a first class production.

Movement and blocking around the stage worked like a well oiled machine and as mentioned before, I was particularly taken with the decision to use the ‘fourth wall’ as the office window: bringing the audience into the story added much to the staging and provided extra flashes of humour along the way. I would have liked to see a rather more tipsy Frank on occasions (more drinking and a little more slurring would have added much to Frank’s boozy character) and it would have been nice to see Rita light up a few times (Rita’s constant smoking in Act One would have contrasted nicely with her change of character in Act Two but my plea for more smoking on stage is a moan I make constantly, to no avail!)

This was an excellent production which made the most of all the local talent available and the cosy surroundings of Downham village hall was a perfect venue. Congratulations to everyone involved, on stage, off stage and behind the scenes. An extra bow must be reserved for our two performers however - this was a tremendous achievement. My thanks to everyone at Stage 2 for making myself and Kath very welcome. It was refreshing to see a play worth doing done so well. I look forward to the next production with keen anticipation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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