Editing Educating Rita

{{Short description|Stage comedy by Willy Russell}}
{{for|the film adaptation|Educating Rita (film)}}
{{Infobox play
| name       = Educating Rita
| image      = Educating Rita.jpg
| caption    = Samuel French acting edition cover
| writer     = [[Willy Russell]]
| genre      = [[Comedy]]
| setting    =
| subject    = Pygmalion-style drama about a hairdresser's literary quest.
| premiere   = June 1980
| place      = [[Donmar Warehouse]]<br>London
| orig_lang  = English
}}

'''''Educating Rita''''' is a stage comedy by British playwright [[Willy Russell]]. It is a play for two actors set entirely in the office of an [[Open University]] tutor.

Commissioned by the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]], ''Educating Rita'' premièred at [[Donmar Warehouse|The Warehouse]], London, in June 1980 starring [[Julie Walters]] and [[Mark Kingston]]. The play was directed by [[Mike Ockrent]].

==Plot summary==
The plays follows the relationship between a 26-year-old [[Liverpudlian]] [[working class]] hairdresser and Frank, a middle-aged university lecturer, during the course of a year.<ref>Act 1 consists of seven scenes running from January to May, and Act 2 a further seven running from September to December. Source: Programme for run at [[Liverpool Playhouse]], 1981</ref> In the play Frank has no surname, but when the film was made he became Dr. Frank Bryant.

Susan (who initially calls herself Rita), dissatisfied with the routine of her work and social life, seeks inner growth by signing up for and attending an [[Open University]] course in English Literature. The play opens as 'Rita' meets her tutor, Frank, for the first time. Frank is a middle-aged, alcoholic career academic who has taken on the tutorship to pay for his drink. The two have an immediate and profound effect on one another; Frank is impressed by Susan's verve and earnestness and is forced to re-examine his attitudes and position in life; Susan finds Frank's tutelage opens doors to a bohemian lifestyle and a new self-confidence. However, Frank's bitterness and cynicism return as he notices Susan beginning to adopt the pretensions of the university culture he despises. Susan becomes disillusioned by a friend's attempted suicide and realises that her new social niche is rife with the same dishonesty and superficiality she had previously sought to escape. The play ends as Frank, sent to Australia on a sabbatical, welcomes the possibilities of the change.

==Themes==
The play deals with the concept of freedom, change, Britain's class system, the shortcomings of institutional education, and the nature of self-development and of personal relationships. The play borrows from the 1913 [[George Bernard Shaw]] play ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]'', itself based upon [[Pygmalion (mythology)|archetypes from Greek myth]].

==Film adaptation==

{{main|Educating Rita (film)}}

The play was adapted by Russell for a 1983 film with [[Michael Caine]] and [[Julie Walters]], directed by [[Lewis Gilbert]].

==Radio adaptation==
The play was adapted by Russell for radio in 2009. It starred [[Bill Nighy]] and Laura Dos Santos directed by [[Kirsty Williams (drama)|Kirsty Williams]], and was a 90-minute play broadcast on [[BBC Radio 4]] on [[Boxing Day]] 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pdkqx|title=BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Drama, Educating Rita|website=BBC|accessdate=Sep 1, 2021}}</ref>

==Revivals==
In 1987, [[Laurie Metcalf]] starred as Rita in a production Off-Broadway at the [[Westside Theatre]] produced by the Steppenwolf Theater Company.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/08/theater/stage-educating-rita-with-laurie-metcalf.html New York Times Metcalf] accessed 2-13-20122</ref>

From June to July 2001, the [[Williamstown Theatre Festival]] mounted a production of Educating Rita at the Nikos Stage starring [[Jacqueline McKenzie]] as Rita and [[Edward Herrmann]] as Frank. The production was directed by [[Bruce Paltrow]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wtfestival.org/main-events/educating-rita/|title=Educating Rita {{!}} Williamstown Theatre Festival|website=wtfestival.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-13}}</ref> and was critically acclaimed with critics touting McKenzie's performance as "wonderfully beguiling and irrepressible...one of the best performances of the year".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.iberkshires.com/story/15506/WTF-after-50-years-a-personal-recollection.html|title=WTF after 50 years: a personal recollection|access-date=2018-02-13}}</ref>

From 26 March to 8 May 2010, as part of the Willy Russell season at the [[Menier Chocolate Factory]], Laura Dos Santos reprised her radio performance on stage as Rita alongside [[Larry Lamb]] as Frank. This was the production's first London West End revival. This production transferred to the [[Trafalgar Studios]] in London's West End from 8 July to 30 October 2010, produced by [[Sonia Friedman]]. Laura Dos Santos reprised her radio and Menier Chocolate Factory performance as Rita, and Frank was played by renowned actor [[Tim Pigott-Smith]]. Like the Willy Russell season at the Menier Chocolate Factory, the production ran in [[repertory]] alongside ''[[Shirley Valentine]]'' starring [[Meera Syal]]. A UK tour played in 2012, starring [[Claire Sweeney]] and [[Matthew Kelly]] as Rita and Frank respectively.

A 35th anniversary production was staged at [[Liverpool Playhouse]] from 6 February to 7 March 2015, starring Leanne Best as Rita and [[Con O'Neill (actor)|Con O'Neill]] as Frank, directed by Gemma Bodinetz.  The same year the Chichester Festival staged a production with Lenny Henry and Lashana Lynch as Frank and Rita.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2015/jun/24/lenny-henry-educating-rita-minerva-chichester|title=Lenny Henry fluffing his lines makes us warm to him even more|date=Jun 24, 2015|website=the Guardian|accessdate=Sep 1, 2021}}</ref>

==Awards and nominations==
The original production received the 1980 [[Olivier Award]] nomination for Comedy Performance of the Year for Julie Walters and won for Comedy of the Year.<ref>[https://officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/winners/olivier-winners-1980/ "Olivier Awards, 1980"] officiallondontheatre.com, retrieved 24, 2019</ref>

==See also==
* [[Galatea (mythology)|Galatea]] of Greek mythology
* ''[[My Fair Lady]]''
* ''[[Pretty Woman]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | last=Russell | first=Willy | title=Educating Rita: A Comedy | edition=First | location=London | publisher=Samuel French | year=1981 | isbn=0-573-11115-4 }}

==External links==
* {{IOBDB title}}
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q1753575}}
* [http://faculty.frostburg.edu/phil/forum/EduRita.htm Film Review: ''Educating Rita''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121094359/http://faculty.frostburg.edu/phil/forum/EduRita.htm |date=2019-11-21 }}

{{OlivierAward Comedy 1976–2000}}
{{Pygmalion}}

[[Category:1980 plays]]
[[Category:Comedy plays]]
[[Category:Off-Broadway plays]]
[[Category:Laurence Olivier Award–winning plays]]
[[Category:Open University]]
[[Category:Plays based on books]]
[[Category:West End plays]]
[[Category:Plays by Willy Russell]]
[[Category:British plays adapted into films]]
[[Category:Universities and colleges in art]]
[[Category:Two-handers]]

[[es:Educando a Rita]]
[[fr:L'Éducation de Rita]]
[[he:לחנך את ריטה]]
[[pt:Educating Rita]]