Susan's assigned Open University tutor, Frank Bryant, is jaded and has long ago openly taken to the bottle, describing himself as "an appalling teacher". She seeks to better herself by signing up for and attending an Open University course in Literature. Susan (who initially calls herself Rita), a 26-year-old working-class hairdresser, is dissatisfied with the routine of her work and social life she is reluctant to have a child, fearing it will tie her to the same monotonous routine for life, and she yearns to escape to something more profound, without exactly knowing what that is. The British Film Institute ranked Educating Rita the 84th greatest British film of the 20th century. It won multiple major awards for best actor and best actress and was nominated for three Academy Awards.Ĭaine and Walters both won BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for best actor and actress. The film stars Michael Caine, Julie Walters, Michael Williams and Maureen Lipman. Educating RitaĪnd Shirley Valentine were both awarded the Laurence OlivierĪward for Best New Comedy, in 19 respectively.Educating Rita is a 1983 British comedy-drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert with a screenplay by Willy Russell based on his 1980 stage play. One of the longest-running musicals in London's West End, Bloodīrothers won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical inġ983, and its 1988 production is still running. He is best known for Bloodīrothers, Educating Rita, and Shirley Valentine. Willy Russell is one of the most successful English " Russell's deft two-hander has as much to say about education, art and power and it does about class." - The Herald (London ) " A marvellous play, painfully funny and passionately serious a hilarious social documentary a fairy tale with a quizzical, half happy ending." - The Times (London ) It is the interchange of feeling and realization of new approaches to life on both sides that make this play of particular interest." - London Telegraph A fourth, that it is simply a marvellous play, painfully funny and passionately serious a hilarious social documentary a fairy-tale with a quizzical, half-happy ending." - Sunday Times (London) A third, that it is a cross between Pygmailion and Lucky Jim. Another would be to say that it was about the meaning of life. " One way of describing Educating Rita would be to say that it was about the meaning of education. Regularly performed in regional, high school, college, and The play has become aįavourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is It was subsequently made into a highly successful film with Michael Caine and Julie Walters and won the 1983 BAFTA award for Best Film. Their relationship as teacher and student blossoms, ultimately giving Frank a new sense of self and Rita the knowledge she so craves.Įducating Rita was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and premiered in 1980 at the RSC Warehouse (now Donmar Warehouse) in London and won the SWET award for Best Comedy of the Year. The effects are both amusing and serious as her fresh, intuitive approach becomes clouded and stifled as she grapples with the problem of a formal education. After weeks of cajoling, Rita slowly wins over the very hesitant Frank with her innate insight and refusal to accept no for an answer. With Frank as her tutor Rita embarks on an Open University course and her education process begins. Enter Rita, a forthright 26 year-old hairdresser who is eager to learn and hungry to find some meaning to life. Frank is a tutor of English in his fifties whose disillusioned outlook on life drives him to drink and bury himself in his books. Her fresh, unschooled reaction to the classics challenges the attitudes of the University and her lecturer Frank who begins to question his own understanding of his work and himself.Įducating Rita is a contemporary Pygmalion-tinged comedy about a hairdresser and her weary professor. Much to the dismay of her husband Denny, Rita, a young, brash hairdresser, has recently discovered a passion for English literature and enrols with the Open University. A poignant and hilarious play about a working class Liverpool girl's One of Royal National Theatre of Britain's top 100 plays of the 20thĮducating Rita is a full-length comedy by Willy Russell. Teachers for female monologues and female/male scenes. Educating Rita has long been a favourite of acting
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