Educating Rita by Willy Russell is a well known play. Set in the 1980’s this play still draws in a large audience now when ever it is performed. As with all of Willy Russell’s plays this play tells the story of a working class girl called Rita who wants to become educated. In Rita’s words’ she wants to become educated so that she can wear the clothes that educated women wear and also have conversations that educated women would have’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then there is Frank the university lecturer who has secret aspirations of becoming a poet. Although well educated and from an entirely different background to Rita, he too has his own demons which he masks with drink. This is a play about education and class diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The action in the play takes place entirely in Frank’s office. The Oldbury Rep’s stage due to its size was able to create a spacious lived in office for Frank with a comfy chesterfield stage centre, plenty of book shelves and two desks. A large bay window also helped to create the illusion of his grand office. On the night I saw the show the cast did suffer from structural issues with the main door to the office collapsing. However, as this was close to the end of the play the actors managed to carry on regardless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This play requires two very strong actors who have chemistry between them. There is not a lot of action in the show and the actors have to create their characters through dialogue. Rita gets to make an impression on the audience before she sets foot on the stage. If I’m being picky here I would have liked louder and more forceful knocking at the door from the actress who played Rita, but I guess then they could have had a malfunction from the door collapsing sooner. Emma Woodcock who played Rita sustained the Liverpool accent and mannerisms of Rita all of the way through the show. She also timed the laugh lines well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank played by Lee Morgan-Salcombe goes through a range of emotions including being drunk. At the start of the play he is lacking in self motivation but at the same time intrigued by this whirlwind of Rita who has just entered his office. Yes, there were some prompts and moments in the show when the actors felt a bit uneasy, but overall considering the amount of dialogue, Emma Woodcock and Lee Morgan- Salcombe did a splendid job in following in the footsteps of many actors who have undertaken these roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group choose to set the show in 2026 instead of the 1980’s. I did wonder why this was the case but I guess it made for an easier job for the costume department. The show appeared to adapt well to the change with using a laptop instead of a pen and paper as one example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, this was a very calming relaxing watch that held the audiences attention. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m late for my open university class. Wish me luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reviewed by – Emma T.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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