Frank Bryant is a professor of literature. And Rita is his newest student. A hairdresser who thinks Macbeth runs the local pub. And Hamlet is a plate of eggs with cheese. He's a failed writer who has given up on his life. She's determined to change hers by getting an education. And the more she loves to learn. The more he learns how to love.
EDUCATING RITA
Stratford Press
4th Wall Theatre - Educating Rita
Reviewed by Ilona Hanne
You don’t have to be a professor of literature to recognise the brilliance of Willy Russell’s play Educating Rita.
From its first arrival on stage at the Donmar Warehouse in 1980, to its adaptation into an award-winning film also written by Russell, which received BAFTA Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (Michael Caine), and Best Actress (Julie Walters), the play has remained popular for the past four-plus decades.
At its core, the story’s Pygmalion like framework and its exploration of knowledge, authority, jealousy, and non romantic affection give it enduring dramatic weight and appeal. With just two characters and one set throughout, the play leans so heavily on dialogue that, ironically given one particular recurring reference in the script, it would retain much of its poignancy even if performed as a radio play rather than in a theatre.
When it comes to the current production, playing now at New Plymouth’s 4th Wall Theatre, directed by Wellington-based Lindsey Rusling, we can give thanks that it remains a stage production not a radio one.
For the visual stage itself is a major part of this particular production, with a wonderful set that draws the audience in immediately. The piles of books, threatening to topple over in places, as well as the bookshelves themselves, bring a sense of ordered disorder, while the classic old-style desk and artwork on the wall all bring a sense of old school, quiet academia and privilege.
Any doubt that we, as an audience, are looking into a professor’s office is banished by the presence of the professor himself.
As Professor Frank Bryant, Chris Green, sets the scene immediately. As he mutters, hunts through his bookshelf for his favourite tipple, and answers the phone, he fully brings the disillusioned, functioning alcoholic professor to life through words, actions and his entire physicality on stage.
The grey, stuffy life, represented by his office is soon uprooted as the colourful, loud, brash and determined eponymous Rita bursts onto stage.
Loren Armstrong is a delight to watch in this role, not to mention listen to, with her Liverpudlian accent nicely done throughout. It’s strong and broad, but never at the cost of diction or dialogue.
Both actors deliver performances that feel complete, suggesting rich personal worlds outside the university office and bringing that depth with them whenever they step on stage.
As stated, this play is a two-hander, with only Rita and Frank ever appearing on stage, yet at times it feels as though other characters are physically present, so well do the two actors bring them out as they talk. As Rita describes a conversation between herself and her husband, Loren’s physicality and movement conjure up the angry husband so clearly it is as though he is on stage with her. She produces the same magic later as well, whether she is talking about a flatmate, a flirty student or the people she sees at a dinner party.
As the play progresses, the two skilled actors take their characters through their own individual journeys as well as shining a light on bigger societal issues and prejudices.
While Frank, before even meeting Rita, has originally dismissed her as a silly, bored housewife, he quickly begins to value her presence in his life, and slowly grows to recognise the conundrum of educating Rita – to teach her the “proper ways” of appreciating literature, would be to rob of her of her own identity, and to dampen her love and appreciation of art.
Chris brings a lovely sensitivity to his portrayal of the conflicted, angst-ridden professor, especially as Frank begins to grieve the perceived loss of Rita, as she begins to find a world not just out of her own working class estate, but also away from his office and tutelage. As Rita’s horizons grow, it seems that Frank’s are shrinking, and Chris delivers a fantastically strong emotional performance in these later scenes, displaying the mix of anger, sadness and grief that Frank experiences as he sees himself losing Rita to the world he had so comfortably inhabited himself before becoming disillusioned with it.
From a brilliantly-delivered drunken outburst, to the quieter sense of unspoken yearning for Rita, Chris brings a lovely emotional sensitivity and nuance to the character of Frank throughout.
Loren delivers an equally fantastic performance as Rita, with some brilliantly thought-out mannerisms and movement helping embody the contradictions contained within Rita – loud but unsure, determined but scared, while also drawing out Rita’s yearning to discover the world beyond her housing estate.
The script, through its underlying message around how education can liberate us but perhaps also contain us, makes for a thoughtful piece of theatre. In the hands of Loren, Chris and Lindsey it also makes for a masterclass in comedy and a thoroughly enjoyable night out.
Contacts
+64 27 311 4900
blackbeechtheatrenz@gmail.com
cgcigreen@gmail.com