Educating Rita

 Alma Tavern Theatre, Bristol

I assume that, like me, you only know Educating Rita from the Michael Cain / Julie Walters movie. I don't think I even realised it was a play when I first saw the film; but once you have seen it on the stage, everything falls into place. It's a two-hander; all the action takes plays in Frank's university study, and a lot of the film's action -- Rita's dreadful husband, her singing in the pub with her family after chickening out of Frank's party -- only emerge through dialogue. This makes for a very intense and intimate piece of theatre. (I believe that Brief Encounter originally took place entirely in a railway cafeteria.)

Schoolhouse Productions are the in-house company for the minuscule Alma Tavern theatre, and they carry it off with some aplomb. There were no stumbles or missteps that I could spot, but neither did I feel that I was being Acted At with a capital A, which can often be a problem with small companies in small theatres. I've previously seen a stonking Abigail's Party and an even more stonking Dolls' House by the same company in the same space, although I didn't recognise either actor. (There was no programme, but I believe Rita to have been Emelye Moulton and Frank to have been Steve Huggins.) Although the theatre only seats 50 the actual physical stage is not that tiny. Alma companies often resort to very abstract stagings, but this one did a good job of giving us a realistic university room with books and paintings and lots of places to hide bottles of whisky. Not convinced the Ikea desk lamp was quite in-period, though.

The stage play makes you much more aware of the transformation of Rita than the movie; pretty much every scene (separated by black-outs and ironically relevant pop-music) begins with her bouncing into Frank's study, so we perceive each change in her clothes, hair and accent as their relationship develops. (We were warned on the way in that the first half at 100 minutes was a little on the long side, particularly given the cramped seating: although the play didn't drag at all, I am not sure why the break couldn't have come 20 minutes earlier.) 

The last thing I saw at the Alma was Duckgoose's productions' song-free Pygmalion, and I can see why the two plays are often compared. You could almost say that the whole of Rita is Shaw's slipper-throwing scene in slow motion. Like Eliza, Rita comes to see that she can't be a part of Frank's world, but is no longer at home in own original milieux. Unlike Higgins, Frank sees this too: he doesn't resent Rita's independence, but wisely (or is it patronisingly?) regrets that he has taken away her authenticity.

It did strike me again that the play is not in fact, at all interested in English Literature (unlike, say, The History Boys, which really cares about history teaching, or even Dead Poets' Society which thinks it has something to say about high school English.) It's notable that the main works of literature mentioned are Peer Gynt, MacBeth and Chekov; and that literature only really comes alive for Rita when she sees Shakespeare performed on stage. Frank hates the theatre. I think we can be reasonably certain that Willy Russell, who wrote the play, was himself a playwright, and it is telling that Frank's bookish lit crit is contrasted with Rita's joy at live drama. (Are we supposed to think that Frank has spoiled Macbeth by telling Rita that it is more than simply a thriller? We never find out what they thought of the amateur production of Oscar Wilde.) The only conversation we actually hear on a literary question -- Frank explaining the difference between "the tragic" and "Tragedy" is remarkably superficial, a Victorian O Level approach. Wouldn't a university tutor at least have mentioned Aristotle or Nietzsche or George Steiner?

"Oh but Andrew you can't expect actual academic questions to be discussed in popular comedy." 

"Hold my Good Place."

So. An excellent, seamless, thought provoking revival of an old classic in an intimate setting. 

Q: How might you resolve the difficulties inherent in revisiting a movie as well known and iconic as Educating Rita? 

A: Do it upstairs in a pub. 

1 comment:

Nick M said...

"Are we supposed to think that Frank has spoiled Macbeth by telling Rita that it is more than simply a thriller?"

I don't think so. I always got the impression that the discussion of 'tragic' vs 'tragedy' was a genuine eye opening moment for Rita and does start to prepare her for her journey...notably she seems to genuinely enjoy what is implied to be a very rigorously formal summer school. I think the conclusion of this play...where Rita sits her final exam and is tempted to give a smartarse answer but instead answers the question genuinely and this is treated as a 'good thing' by the play.

'"Oh but Andrew you can't expect actual academic questions to be discussed in popular comedy."
"Hold my Good Place.""

To be fair though, it's probably easy to surreptitiously teach complicated theories of ethics in 24 min bite sized chunks in a fantasy setting where one can literally stage the trolley problem than in a two hour naturalistic stage drama.