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Phil Hopkins
Group Travel Editor & Theatre Correspondent
@philhopkinsuk
1:46 PM 7th May 2019
arts

Educating Rita - An Effective Vehicle For Tompkinson

 
Stephen Tompkinson has an intensity that stalks every part he plays, so I was a little wary when I saw his face on the bill posters for Educating Rita, fearing that he would miss so much of the comic potential in Willy Russell’s wonderful play!

But my fears were unfounded. He was excellent as permanently sozzled literature professor, Frank, not simply because he proved himself adept at casting off the shadow left by Michael Caine, originator of the now iconic part in the 1983 film, but because he had, in Jessica Johnson, a great foil that made his light shine brighter.

The stage version of Educating Rita has many possibilities to go wrong because it is dependent on just two people, and there are so many layers to this cake that can either leave people gagging for more or an audience, with its microscopes of observation, grimacing at the bad taste in its mouth.

Not only was it nicely paced with real working of an intricate dialogue where one incorrect nuance could have been a gag lost, but I was so impressed at how director, Max Roberts, subtly transformed Rita from working class Scouse hairdresser, into an emerging literary intellect with the aid of many gentle, almost discreet, subtleties.

He is the Open University professor Rita can look up to; she is the street-girl whose unwitting charm and earthiness strips back the high-blown world of poetry and literature, seducing him into a near love affair that never quite happens.

“I hated Educating Rita at the Liverpool Everyman,” said one lady, “but here it’s fabulous,” she added; and I was inclined to agree.

Willy Russell’s script is beautifully observational and, by his own admission, he doesn’t start with an ‘issue’ then build a play around it, but moreover begins with an idea that invariably goes on to educate and entertain; his musical Blood Brothers is another case in point.

There was plenty of light and shade in last night’s dialogue and not a drop of it was wasted. We could see Frank move from P****d Off Prof who didn’t want to lead Rita’s Open University night class – only he needed the money to fund his booze – to semi-jealous would-be partner, desperate to forge an emotional connection with 29 year old Rita: but it was never destined to happen.

Equally, I grew to like Jessica Johnson more and more with each passing minute. She began as a tottering high-heeled working class girl, frustrated by a diminished life and surrounded by people with no aspirations, into a confident woman with a childlike enthusiasm for all things literary.

This was an entertaining evening and, whilst many of the audience no doubt knew the storyline backwards, there was still great pleasure in being part of an intimate performance that was enjoyed by an enthusiastic audience as much as it was beautifully and consistently delivered.

Bradford Alhambra
Until Saturday 11th May 2019