It’s a tale as old as love itself – older man falls for younger woman’s charms, but ‘Educating Rita’ is about so much more.
Rita (Hannah Traylen) is a hairdresser, with what her working folk would call ‘ideas above her station’. She enrols on an open university course in English literature because she wants to expand her mind and see the world differently. Her tutor, Frank (Jonathan Clarkson), is a failed poet and disillusioned drunk.
The scene is therefore set for the tensions to erupt and the hearts to unfold – which they do.
Two-hander plays are notoriously difficult to pull off (and still keep the audience entertained), but the casting of this duo is stellar. Hannah is an absolute firecracker of a performer and Jonathan does a good job at dowdy, with occasional sparks of life. The set design and costumes are spot on and add instant credibility.
Rita is a force of nature; wild, untamed and brutally honest, she is not chained down by social convention or the restraints of academia. She roars into Frank’s life as a passionate genie in a bottle, he is in awe of her, and while he wants to help her, he doesn’t want to change her. But she wants to change. She needs to change. And so Frank must unlock the bottle and unleash the power within her.
What follows is akin to a torrid love affair, with all the expected jealousies, arguments and frustrations. He’s infatuated with her; she’s infatuated with what he can do for her. It will never end well, she will want freedom from him, and he knows that, but if he wants to have some of her, he must resign himself to being her wings so she can fly solo.
That’s a big theme in itself, and yet there’s so much more to Willy Russell’s play, which Bryan Hodgson has cleverly teased out. How we see the world and ourselves are as much about finding our own voice, our own way of seeing, as they are about finding the tribe that suits us. Our people define us, but first we must define ourselves.
‘Educating Rita’ has many comic laugh-out-loud moments, but at its heart, it’s a deep multi-layered exploration of the human existence and what it means to live and participate in the world.
This was a fantastic opener to the Frinton Summer Theatre season and bodes wells for future performances.
Educating Rita runs until 19th July at the McGrigor Hall with tickets available at https://fst-odes.co.uk/products/
Reviewer: Samantha Collett
Reviewed: 15th July 2025
North West End UK Rating: