Fortunately, the show, directed with spirit by Michael Buffong, having survived this first night, is lively and amusing enough (as teachers like to say of their best pupils) to graduate with distinction. What it did was weirdly to reinforce what was always clear from the start: Rita/Lashana has the upper hand. You could not help but feel tense for Henry – though he courageously soldiered on to the end. Henry was rescued by Lynch’s gallantry and cool as she returned with a flourish but it would be untrue to pretend this was a non-event. The house lights came up and there was a stunned moment (I cannot remember one as dramatic) in which one was reminded of just how hard the learning feat we take for granted in actors is. And on the press night, as if taking his cue from his character, Henry became suddenly blotto, lost his lines and had to leave the stage. It won Comedy of the Year.Lenny Henry’s Frank is so successfully unprepossessing – a subdued old soak – that it is a strain to believe Rita could be in his thrall for a moment, let alone entertained or able to learn anything from him. The original production received the 1980 Olivier Award nomination for Comedy Performance of the Year for Julie Walters. The same year the Chichester Festival staged a production with Lashana Lynch as Rita and Lenny Henry and Frank. It starred Leanne Best as Rita and Con O'Neill as Frank. Educating Rita archive for Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester. It starred Claire Sweeney as Rita and Matthew Kelly as Frank.įrom 6 February to 7 March 2015, a 35th anniversary production was staged at Liverpool Playhouse. The production ran in repertory alongside Shirley Valentine starring Meera Syal. Laura Dos Santos reprised her role as Rita. This was the production's first London West End revival.įrom 8 July-30 October 2010, this production transferred to the Trafalgar Studios in London's West End. Laura Dos Santos reprised her radio performance on stage as Rita with Larry Lamb as Frank. įrom 26 March-, as part of the Willy Russell season at the Menier Chocolate Factory. It was critically acclaimed with critics saying McKenzie's performance one of the best performances of the year". The production was directed by Bruce Paltrow. It starred Jacqueline McKenzie as Rita and Edward Herrmann as Frank. Lenny Henry as Frank in 'Educating Rita' at Chichester Festival Theatre Rita has the hunger and passion he once had but long ago lost it’s no surprise he can’t quite bring himself to. Revivalsįrom June–July 2001, the Williamstown Theatre Festival mounted a production of Educating Rita at the Nikos Stage. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Boxing Day 2009. It starred Bill Nighy and Laura Dos Santos. In 2009, the play was adapted by Russell for radio – see Educating Rita (radio play). In 1983, the play was adapted by Russell for a film with Michael Caine and Julie Walters, directed by Lewis Gilbert. The play borrows from the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion. Lenny Henry who makes his Chichester debut in Willy Russell’s classic comedy, Educating Rita, about the transformative power of education, is set to pass on advice and his experiences to the area’s teens. It deals with the nature of self-development and of personal relationships. The play deals with the concepts of freedom, change, England's class system and the shortcomings of institutional education. The play ends as Frank is sent to Australia. He notices Rita beginning to adopt the university culture he despises. He is forced to re-examine his attitudes. The two have an immediate and profound effect on one another. He has taken on the tutorship to pay for his drink. Frank is a middle-aged, alcoholic career academic. The play opens as 'Rita' meets her tutor, Frank, for the first time. She signs up for an Open University course in English Literature. The same year the Chichester Festival staged a production with Lenny Henry and Lashana Lynch. Rita is dissatisfied with the routine of her work. His best known works are Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine. Rita is a Liverpudlian working class hairdresser. The plays follows the relationship between 26-year-old student Rita and Frank, a middle-aged university lecturer.
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