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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Joe Harper as Frank and Jessica Schneider as Rita. Pictures: Colin Hill. Educating Rita The Nonentities The Rose Theatre, Kidderminster ***** We could just say it was brilliant and leave it at that . . . but that would be merely an opinion and not a critical appraisal, so Frank wouldn’t accept that, he’d want reasoned arguments with references, so on we go. Frank, (Joe Harper) you see, is an English lecturer, albeit a reluctant one, ensconced in a Liverpool university and he is reluctant in that he hates the job, hates teaching and freely admits he’s “an appalling teacher”, and finds most students tedious while satisfying himself in the belief that the minority who are bright will get by despite him. He was once a literary figure, a minor one, a role he never developed, appreciated or embraced, or perhaps it was hidden away because of by fear and self doubt; he drifted into teaching, drifted out of marriage when his wife drifted away, and his current relationship is as solid as . . . well a sandcastle with the tide coming in. Frank is also a drunk whose bookshelves of literary works also double as a hidden off licence, so, mainly to pay for his appreciation of game birds, in particular The Famous Grouse, Frank has enrolled as an Open University tutor. Which brings in Rita White (Jessica Schneider), a hairdresser without even a hint of a GCSE to her name, who at 29 has decided to grasp the education she had shunned. Her real name is Susan but she decided to call herself Rita after Rita Mae Brown, her literary hero after her 1973 debut novel Rubyfruit Jungle, which caused a stir at the time because of its explicit depiction of lesbianism – to put that in context the play premiered in 1980 when society was somewhat less liberal.
Frank finding a reawakening in the raw enthusiasm of Rita The novel was outside Frank’s area of expertise, and dismissed as pulp fiction, although it did illustrate Rita’s longing to know more, to read, to grab the education which had been denied by running wild with her peers in run down, inner city where education was an inconvenience to what passed as real life. Rita was like Frank, both were desperately unhappy with their lot, but while Frank accepted his, almost wallowing in it, basking in his cynicism, Rita was determined to escape her working class shackles, a life devoid of ambition, devoid of what she saw as culture, something beyond humdrum jobs to provide enough money to go to the pub, the football and watch telly. It is summed up with her reason for not wanting a baby yet “I wanna discover meself first”. Rita stirred long lost ambitions, enthusiasm and emotions in Frank. She was funny, outspoken, calls a spade an effing spade, questions the world around her, and wants to learn everything and find herself, grow beyond the society were Saturday night at the pub was the height of ambition, Rita was intelligent and a breath of fresh air, an infuriating tonic in Frank’s jaded life. Slowly the roles change, Rita aspires to be like the students on the lawns viewed fromr Frank’s room, to talk on equal footing with the academics, yet she is frightened of being seen as a circus act, a freak as she searches for herself. The more she searches, the more she questions the world she wanted to become part of, finally realising she doesn’t have to fit in with either her past life, or the academic life she desired. She just needs to be herself. Along the way her marriage breaks down, husband Denny hating her attempts at educating herself instead of having a family He gives her the choice of him or the Open University course. He lost. Denny was left wondering where the girl he married had gone. It is a theme Willy Russell was to use with variations in later works such as Shirley Valentine and Blood Brothers. Dr Frank Bryant, meanwhile, finds Rita stimulating, she has honesty and raw intellect along with a burning enthusiasm to learn, something most of his students lack.
Rita finding freedom in finding herself He finds a purpose in teaching but as she becomes more confident, more assured, Frank starts to feel left behind, even threatened by her growing knowledge and jealous of her new friends. Without knowing it she is challenging him, awakening feelings about her and doubts about his life, so he drinks more, argues more and feelings of rejected set in as Susan no longer needs him as she once did. The working class hairdresser in her 20s and the world-weary middle class lecturer in his untidy ivory tower are becoming an unlikely and fanciful one-sided love story. The fact she is now Susan again being important, reverting to her real name shows that Mrs White has found herself and no longer needs to pretend or hide behind Rita. There is a moment towards the end where Susan, now with a degree, is sitting at the lecturer’s desk and Frank in the student chair as if roles, at least in the relationship have become reversed, Frank needing Susan more than she now needs him. Joe Harper is quite wonderful as Frank, he starts as the jaded lecturer getting through the days with whisky and visits to the pub and ending as the not so much disgraced as problem lecturer after a . . . should we say, interesting lecture involving a rostrum, the floor and his favourite game bird. Although, to his credit, Frank did say he went down talking and raised himself up again, still talking. A point which did not appear as mitigation in his enforced sabbatical, inebriation not being seen as desirable in lectures. Harper gives us the full range of Frank’s moods, his boredom, frustrations, reawakened enthusiasm for literature and sharing knowledge, turning to anger, at times, jealousy and forlorn hopes.
A reversal in roles, Susan in the lecturer's chair, Frank in the student seat Jessica Schneider wowed us as Judy in Home, I’m Darling at the start of this current season, and is a magnificent Rita and Susan, two for the price of one it seems. She is brash, impulsive, funny and yet at times there are hints of pathos. The play might be 45 years old but like Russell’s Blood Brothers from 1983, the social issues it raises are still there and some might even be worse. The education system if one was kind, did not help Susan, if one was honest, it failed her and many of her generation. The question is are the crack’s still there to slip through? Schneider manages a scouse accent, and most important keeps it steady and consistent from start to finish, apart from when she goes into a stiffly cultured accent on the advice of flatmate Trish. Trish, with her free spirit lifestyle, health food diet, and apparent zest for life has an important lesson for Rita when she attempts suicide. Rita realises appearances can be deceptive, you can only be true to yourself. Like Harper, Schneider gives us a whole range of emotions. There are the tears at the break up of her marriage when the defensive shell cracked, her feeling of inferiority or whatever that prevented her going to Frank’s dinner party with his academic friends, her excitement when she breaks through the literary wall into academia and the revelation that that was not what she wanted at all, she just wanted to find herself and her own way in the world. The play is gloriously funny, beautifully written and wonderfully acted, so, just accept it Frank, it is brilliant to watch and would be happily at home on a professional stage. It is a play I have seen many times and amateur or professional this version is up there with the best. Directed by David Wakeman, Rita will be in tutorials to 12-04-25. Roger Clarke 07-04-25 The Nonentities |
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