Two thoughts come to mind after seeing "Educating Rita," Willy Russell’s 1980 play about education and class issues between an alcoholic literature professor and his student.
First is that well-crafted, considerate plays about the nuances and traps of platonic relationships between men and women, not to mention between teacher and student, are far too rare. Second is that there are far too few playwrights with Russell’s talent for packing dialogue with equal amounts of wit and subtext.
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‘Educating Rita’
A marvelous take on the classic British drama that, while not pitch-perfect, captures the bittersweet core of Willy Russell’s drama.
When » Reviewed on Feb. 9; continues tonight, and Feb. 16-18, 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinee Feb. 18.
Where » Midvale Performing Arts Center at Old City Hall, 695 West Center Street (7720 South) Midvale.
Running time » Two hours with a 10-minute intermission.
Tickets » $13-$15, at the door or pinnacleactingcompany.org.
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Pinnacle Acting Company’s version of this British drama classic, made popular by the 1983 film version starring Julie Walters as Rita and Michael Caine as university tutor Dr. Frank Bryant, pays handsome dividends, despite the production’s flaws.
Not every British syllable is pitch-perfect, the tempo rushes at times, and actor Michael Flynn can’t quite persuade in moments when he’s supposed to be intoxicated. But the production succeeds all the same, creating spontaneity between the two characters that you’ll soon forget you’re watching a play, and instead feel as if you’re eavesdropping on all the aches and laughs of private conversation.
The chief pleasure of Russell’s script is that, rather than force-feed us with the usual notions of relations between men and women, he lets matters take their own course in ways far more interesting. We all know the plot, real-life or otherwise, of what happens when teacher dates student. We’re spared that here, and wiser for it by play’s end.
"Educating Rita" is that rare, intelligent animal of the theater world that lets you and your friends talk about the possible fate of its characters hours afterward. It’s not clear whether Rita, the hairdress-turned-student played here by Melanie Nelson, turns out better in the end. Likewise, we’re left to wonder if Frank ever kicks the habit of sipping Scotch from bottles hidden among his books.
Part of the fun is watching the two talk past each other — references abound to E.M. Forster’s "only connect" and jokes about assonance as "rhymes that don’t rhyme" — while still finding plenty of ground to walk. Nelson gives her Liverpudlian character lots of agile turns as the young Rita eager to find her "true self" apart from the demands of her husband, who wants her to produce a child.
"It’s as if there’s this disease, but no one wants to talk about it," she says of her working-class neighborhood. "The ‘got-to-have’ garbage that leaves you wondering what you’ve got once you’ve got what you wanted."
Frank is the been-there-done-that professor for whom the bloom is long off the academic rose. While captivated by her zest for learning, he also wants to save her from the false promise of a life spent among books. "We pluck birds out of the sky to pin them down so we can see how they fly," he tells her, mocking academia full-tilt. "Just be yourself!" he pleads.
After the two pass each other while traveling in opposite directions — Rita toward a more sophisticated life and set of friends, Frank toward professional breakdown due to drink — we’re left to ask what each has learned and exchanged from the other. Flynn and Nelson capture it well, with grace notes that bite softly at a bittersweet core.
It’s easy to call this a play about what we want to take from literature, but must learn, instead, from life and friends. But even if, like Frank, you’re too tired to entertain the play’s "big questions" you can always enjoy the stand-alone quality of its two marvelous characters. There’s riches aplenty for the taking in Pinnacle Acting Company’s production.
Twitter:@Artsalt
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