Educating Rita

‘Educating Rita’ is a play for two characters by playwright Willy Russell best known for ‘Shirley Valentine’ and the musical ‘Blood Brothers’.  It first premiered at the Warehouse in 1980 and went on to be adapted into an Oscar nominated film, starring Dame Julie Walters (the original Rita) and Michael Caine.

Set entirely in the shambolic office of failed poet and English Professor, Frank Byrant (Paul Turner Johnson) we see straight away an insight into his character; neglected plants, files folders and books lie higgedly-piggedly on the bookshelves, the room is full of mismatched furniture including a large leather armchair which, we suspect, is where he spends a lot of his time ‘relaxing’ and behind some of the books on the bookshelves are lurking half-drunk bottles of scotch.

Our play opens with Frank on the telephone with his long-suffering partner trying to explain why he won’t be home for dinner that evening.  He is a university professor who gives individual tuition to Open University students, and he is meeting his next student tonight.

We hear an insistent knocking then Rita (Millie Satchell) who has been struggling with the faulty door handle suddenly bursts into the room, and Frank’s life, like a tornado.  She is Frank’s opposite, He is middle-aged, jaded and teetering on the edge of an alcoholic breakdown while she is eager, honest and forthright seeing his dingy world with bright new young eyes.  Her analysis of the nude portrait of ‘The Birth of Venus’ on the wall of his office is hilarious calling it the ‘pornography of its time’ and using her colourful language to shock Frank ironically observing that ‘upper class people swear all the time’. Rita seems to suffer from some sort of verbal diarrhoea, chattering constantly and saying the very first thing that comes into her head and Frank is dazzled by her honesty, vibrancy and passion for life.

We learn that Rita (real name Susan) is a product of the broken 1970s comprehensive education system where working-class people like her were never encouraged to pursue an education because their lives were predestined from birth – mundane job, marriage and family.  Rita wants to break that mould.  She has a ‘hungry mind’ and wants to better herself and like Eliza Dolittle she seeks her own Professor Higgins to create a more educated version of herself.  In a hilarious conversation about authors, Rita mistakes W B Yeates for the wine bar but then cuts through Frank’s pomposity by saying that assonance is ‘getting the rhyme wrong’ and Frank suddenly realises that this young uneducated woman has potential. She wants something different to her lot in life and believes getting an education and a degree will assure her of that without realising (like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz) that she already possesses the tools of her own metamorphosis.   

Rita quickly has the measure on Frank calling him a ‘geriatric hippie’ and scolds him for his drinking while hypocritically smoking herself.  She calls his office a ‘lovely mess’ saying that everything seems to have ‘grown there’.  She talks with scorn about her working-class friends and family scoffing they don’t know the difference between ‘Oscar Wilde and Kim Wilde’ and who are content with their lot of going out boozing at the local pub.  Rita desperately wants to escape this life as she feels out of step. 

Frank’s educating of Rita begins with introductions to E M Foster who she despises, Chekhov and Ibsen’s Peer Gynt.  In a wonderful scene, Frank talks about going to see a live theatrical performance of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ his snobbery coming to the fore as he talks disparagingly about amateur theatre productions in village halls! 

Rita sees ‘Macbeth’ and enthused by what she has seen in her down to earth way calls Lady Macbeth ‘a cow’. We then have a conversation about tragedy and the flaws in Macbeth’s character. Franks lectures Rita about the concept of tragedy not realising that he too has a flaw in his own character which will be the result of his own predestined downfall.

In another wonderful scene, Frank invites Rita to dinner at his house but her class insecurities and personal thoughts of inadequacy prevent her from attending, worried she would not know what to wear or even what wine to bring ‘it was Spanish plonk!’  We realise that she is metaphorically tapping on the window of life watching how the other half live with a burning desire to be just like them.

Frank coaches Rita to produce a style of essay that will be accepted by the examination board as she wants to be taken seriously. In so doing he creates a version of Rita that, just like Eliza Dolittle, as she bitterly observes is a freak as she does not fit it with either culture.  After a huge row she eventually leaves her husband who has accused her of being a class traitor.

Rita goes to Summer School and returns to Frank’s office buzzing with her newfound passion for her new life hardly recognisable as the once insecure person she was.  Her clothes are clones of the students she has met, and she talks endlessly about the debates she has had and her delight at finally being accepted by the red brick academics.  But has she lost something of herself along the way? In a bittersweet moment Frank excitedly gives Rita a copy of Blake’s ‘Song’s of Innocence and Experience’ which he has been saving for her when he believed she was ready, only for her to recite it from memory and say heartlessly that she had ‘done Blake already’ and analysed it extensively.  They clash on their opinions, and he tells her she is reading too much into the poetry that the earlier Rita would have seen for its pure simplicity.

Frank realises bitterly that he has created ‘a monster’ and in another powerful scene sardonically refers to himself as ‘Mary’ in recognition of Mary Shelley’s creation ‘Frankenstein’ knowing she will now get the reference.  He has been out Yoda’d by his own student, and it is a bitter pill to swallow. Furiously he gives her a challenge to analyse his own poetry which she does after discussing it with her new flat mate Trish, who having out-grown Frank, is now her new muse and mentor.  Frank is furious that she has abandoned her own uniqueness and brutal honesty, and he tells her that the Rita he first met would have called his poetry crap and tears it up and puts it in the wastebin.

We now realise how different Rita is and in her reinvention of herself she has also picked up on the very superiority and scornful arrogance that originally held her back. Faced with some harsh home truths from Frank and some cruel parting shots from Rita, she storms out of Frank’s office.  Frank has his own fall from grace literally as he tumbles off his podium during a lecture in a hilarious drunk scene as Frank dressed in his full academic professor robes staggers around the office and for the first time is as brutally honest as Rita.  But will Rita, who bitterly states that no one ‘ever calls her Rita but him’, finally see the pretentious person she has become, reconcile with Frank and gain her coveted degree?

I was incredibly impressed with both Millie and Paul who have the onerous task of carrying the entire show with no breaks.  Paul as Frank was fantastic creating the character of a man merely going through the motions, bored of life, whose flame of passion for life and the arts was all but extinguished.  His facial expressions and nervous mannerisms were ideal for the role he created. His relationship and connection with Rita was beautifully observed especially at the beginning as he was drawn to Rita’s unique refreshing perspective on life like a moth to a flame.  I loved his wonderful drunk scene swaying and nearly falling over as he finally succumbed to the booze and in a moment of honesty pushed his luck too far with the university board. His anger at Rita’s analysis of his poetry as he spat back at her that she was was parroting other people’s opinions and not her own was very powerful.  Paul managed to keep sympathy with his character despite his moodiness and jealousy over her relationship with a fellow student.  His own brutal honesty finally exposed Rita for the parody she had become and the part that he himself had played. His final fall of grace unlike Macbeth was not a tragedy but a cathartic experience offering a fresh start and Paul pitched this perfectly ruefully packing his books and bottles of scotch into packing cases for a new start in Australia. His twinkle in his eye and awkwardness as Rita teased that she could do something for him at the end was hilarious only to reveal it was a haircut!

Mille was excellent and pitch perfect as hairdresser Rita maintaining a natural sounding scouse accent throughout as she took us on a journey of Rita’s self-discovery and back again.  Her Rita was no Julie Walter’s impersonation, but an honest true creation and she made Rita her own.  I loved her quirky observations of poets and authors showing her lack of education in the arts, but we never look down on her as we recognise that she wants to improve herself and have a choice in her own decisions in life and she recognises that having an education is the gateway to this.  I especially liked her ‘parallel personality’ she created once she had fraternised with the students and the pretentious Trish. Her body language, accent and mannerisms were toe curling to watch as she effectively character assassinated herself much to Frank’s horror. The scene where she describes the jealously of her husband furiously burning her books and essay is almost too painful to watch and perfectly shows how she is changing and developing and how threatened Denny is by her newfound love of literature and rejection of her old life. She brings it back up to beat again wittily observing ‘touch my Peer Gynt and your dead’.   Her bitter realisation that Trish and Rita’s new life was all a façade was a sudden about a face for Rita and Millie handled this change brilliantly.

The chemistry between Paul and Millie was excellent and the development of their relationship was perfectly pitched thanks to the subtle direction of producer Donnamarie who has created a pacey piece of theatre heartily appreciated by the ample audience. As Donnamarie told me when I met her before the show, the first half was long with lots of scenes and blackouts interspersed with music, but this was necessary to complete the narrative and Rita’s story arc.

The set was wonderfully observed and used throughout subtly changing as time elapsed - for example Christmas cards on the mantelpiece and a red glowing bar on the electric fire to represent winter.  I loved the haphazard arrangement of the books and folders and dead potted plants representing Frank’s state of mind and attitude to life.  Particularly striking was the central arched window featuring a green lawn and tiny blobs representing the university students. To Frank this view stood for everything he despised about academia while for Rita it was everything she aspired to and ultimately achieved finally getting to sit on that green grass and be one of those students.

Costumes were good and perfectly illustrated Rita’s gradual metamorphosis.  A different outfit for every scene we see Rita change and develop from scatty mismatched outfits to more casual clothes and then all individuality erased as she mimics the other students and Trish, even down to a scrunchy hairband.  Frank’s clothes perfectly reflected his personality and profession. Non-descript sage-coloured ancient tweed jacket, braces and crumpled shirts and of course his professor wild hair.

Lighting and music were used to good effect with blackouts leading to each scene, giving Millie time to change, and the stage was well lit. The choice of music added to the ambience giving the audience something to listen to which was a good choice. Sound projection was good, and dialogue was clear and easy to hear.

Well done Donnamarie and her team of creatives behind the scenes, for a superb production which I thoroughly enjoyed and the lovely welcome I received before and after the show.  I was delighted to meet Millie and Paul (TJ) back-stage to pass on my congratulations and chat about how they created their characters.   Retford Little Theatre are celebrating their fortieth anniversary, and it was nice to see a selection of photos from their previous shows on display in the lobby.  Well done to all and I look forward to your next production. 

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© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.