![]() ![]() They are quiet, working on their separate projects. He asks her to take some time now to answer it fully. Frank says it is not an essay, and tries to explain the ritual and the rules of writing a response to a question like this. She says she had to write it at work because her husband Denny gets mad when she does coursework at home. Rita wrote simply, “Do it on the radio” (29) and Frank tells her this is not enough. Frank says he wants to talk to her about her essay on Peer Gynt, which was to answer the question: Suggest how you might resolve the staging difficulties inherent in a production of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. She is flustered and full of apologies for being late, blaming a customer at work. Once you have bought your theatre tickets, call The Assheton Arms on 01200 439699 to reserve your table.Frank is reading at his desk and Rita enters. They will provide a two course meal for just £20, and will also make sure your meal is complete in time for you to make short journey to Downham Village Hall. We are delighted that once again The Assheton Arms in Downham will be offering a pre-theatre meal exclusively for Stage Two Downham ticket holders. More recently he has been back on the Clitheroe stage as René in ’Allo ’Allo!. ![]() That started with A Bunch of Amateurs, and includes Fiddler On The Roof, and Hangmen for for Blackburn Drama Club. This is far from the first time Richard has shared the stage with Jen. In 2022, he achieved a long held ambition to play Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof with Blackburn Musical Theatre Company, for which he received a NODA award - one of many for that production. Richard also sings, both in musicals and with local barbershop quartet Wrong Direction. While he has been a Stage Two Downham regular since his first appearance in 2014’s Confusions, this is first appearance with us since our last pre-Covid production, A Bunch Of Amateurs, in which he played the main character of Jefferson Steele. Richard’s theatre journey started in Clitheroe a little over ten years age. It is something of a passion project for Jen and Richard, and these Stage Two Downham stalwarts are looking forward to drawing the Downham audience along for the journey. This production is a departure from Stage Two Downham’s normal schedule, appearing in an experimental summer slot. In Frank and Rita, Willy Russell has created characters that are both loveable and loathable, but who keep the audience on side to the very end. Even the author’s own teenage experience as a ladies’ hairdresser gets some time in the spotlight.Įducating Rita is an absolute joy of a play, treating the audience to scenes that are serious, emotional, and laugh-out-loud funny - often all at once. It turns out to be far from a one-way street, as Frank finds himself being taught a great deal by Rita along the way. The British class system, its educational institutions, and personal freedom to change all these and more are treated to Rita’s humour or Frank’s indignation as Rita turns to the OU in her search for a way to grow as a person. It draws on themes common to author Willy Russell’s other work, which includes worldwide successes such as Shirley Valentine and the musical Blood Brothers. ![]() The play follows the sometimes startling effect they have on each other over a year of Open University tutorials. She is unlike anyone Frank knows, and is as loud and chaotic as her first entrance. Rita on the other hand is seeking to use knowledge and education to prevent herself following a similar path. In his early fifties, he is well into a self-destructive spiral that he thinks whiskey will help him escape. Frank is a lecturer in English Literature at a Liverpool university. ![]() Unlike that film adaptation, the original stage version of Educating Rita is a two-hander, featuring only Rita and Frank. Julie Walters also revived Rita in the BAFTA award winning 1983 film version, opposite Michael Caine. It has been revived many times with actors such as Con O’Neill, Lenny Henry and EastEnders’ Larry Lamb as Frank. Educating Rita was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and first performed in 1980 with Julie Walters as Rita. ![]()
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