7/24/2023 0 Comments Educating rita chichester![]() The issues of class and education that form the centre of Educating Rita did feel somewhat dated, in a way in which Shirley’s more human concerns did not. Sunday TimesEducating Rita premiered at the RSC Warehouse, London, in June 1980. Chichester, in 2015 ‘uncovers a potential star in Lashana Lynch’. Having seen both plays in the same day meant that I was constantly drawing comparisons, perhaps where they weren’t warranted, but I did feel that Shirley Valentine has stood the test of time much better. Educating Rita, about a working-class Liverpool girls hunger for education, is simply a marvellous play, painfully funny and passionately serious a hilarious social documentary a fairy-tale with a quizzical, half-happy ending. Educating Rita at 40 in pictures Tim Pigott-Smith (Frank) and Laura Dos Santos (Rita) in Educating Rita. In the attractively designed office set, their relationship is charted but something just didn’t click for me. I didn’t care much for Larry Lamb’s grizzled Frank (as I’m not a watcher of Eastenders or Gavin & Stacey, I wasn’t aware of him before now) although Laura Dos Santos’ Rita was very funny and warm. Over the course of a year, they affect each other in a number of ways, as Rita seeks to better herself and Frank tries to battle his own personal demons. Rita, a 29 year-old hairdresser decides she needs an education and enrols at an Open University course where her tutor, Frank, is a disillusioned middle-aged ex-poet with an indiscriminate liking for whiskey. Laura Dos Santos reprises her role from the radio, but Bill Nighy has been replaced by Larry Lamb. This version has more in common with the radio play which was broadcast on Radio 4 on Boxing Day than the famous film. And whilst she loved it, I was not a fan. After Shirley in the afternoon with a varied sampling of the blogging cognoscenti, I returned in the evening with a different companion for Educating Rita. I think I got Willy Russelled out on Saturday. But it's worth seeing for Lynch's performance alone she's a Rita for our times.My original review was a lot more detailed but disappeared somewhere into the internet and I’m meant to be working, so here’s a brief recap. Maybe this will improve through the run – it certainly seemed as if Henry was holding himself back and will grow into the role. He's certainly not helped by Buffong's plodding direction it meanders to its conclusion despite Ellen Cairn's imaginative design and Lynch's bewildering range of costume changes – there are too many of these, and the gap between the scenes contribute to the lethargic pace. While he's stronger by the end, it's a low-key performance and not just in comparison with Lynch's. We certainly can sense his disgust with the university system and his superficial students, but Henry doesn't capture the full self-pity of Frank. He recovered his composure but Henry's performance never really catches fire. In a co-production with Chichester Festival Theatre Sharp-witted, wilful and frequently. Maybe it was first night nerves – at one stage he got so tongue-tied over the differences between subjectivity and objectivity that he had to leave the stage for a few minutes. He has directed productions of Educating Rita and Gaslight. of Music (Stratford Festival, Canada) Hamlet (Elisnore, Denmark) Oleanna, Educating Rita, Pravda, The Critic, The Real Inspector Hound (Chichester). Lenny Henry's performance as the jaded Frank, however, is less assured. From her first appearance, almost literally bursting through the door, hers is a performance of some verve – her scouse accent is a bit wobbly at first but she finds her feet as quickly as Rita finds herself lost in the wonders of English literature. That's certainly not down to Lashana Lynch's Rita: there's an exuberance and vitality about her performance that ensures Frank is not the only person captivated. Director Michael Buffong's new production features an all-black cast, which is a worthwhile idea, though the execution leaves something to be desired. In an era where more women go to college than men and where girls do better than boys at school, it may be instructive to swap the roles around. It's interesting to wonder how Willy Russell would write Educating Rita today. Lenny Henry (Frank) and Lashana Lynch (Rita) in Educating Rita
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