![]() ![]() Then we see her get a Diana Ross more permed straight and waved style … and she appears in panic in her pink salon work apron. At the start, she has an exuberant Afro (she is a hairdresser) and bright chain store clothes. Rita goes off every time, only to reappear in a startling new costume. Lenny Henry stayed on, changed jackets or cardigans, loosened or did up ties. ![]() Lashana Lynch was fresh, exuberant, lively, engaging at all times. It is a superb role for a young actress who can do accents. It is obviously “her story.” They worked very well together, but inevitably the Open University tutor, Frank, is a feed or foil for the Liverpudlian hairdresser, Rita, who is seeking a literary education. This was not a random selection.Īct 1: Later hairstyle, popping in from work at the salon Actually going out, we glanced at the books that ended up on the edge … Ovid and Proust. ![]() I once did John Whiting’s Saint’s Day at university, and we covered the stage with three vanloads of secondhand books which the cast had to wade through. I have in-built prejudice against one set plays with a cast of two and lots of monologues, but having said that, the distorted bookshelves and study looked marvellous. Or maybe they cut a scene for the matinee. To me that suggests a lot of sharpening up had taken place. I also noted that the theatre clock said it would end at 17.20, but it ended at 17.10. Much better when a play exceeds expectations. ![]() I thought Lenny and Lashana felt vindicated too. I was glad it got knocked, in that I went expecting a poor to dire production, which it certainly wasn’t, and I was delighted by the massive applause and shouts and hoots at the end, all well-deserved. The set with Rita asking if the picture’s meant to be erotic. The Sunday Times – “Without a convincing Frank, Michael Buffomg’s production can only stutter along”) but this week they’ve switched to three (four from Quentin Letts in The Daily Mail). Funny, last week I saw “two star” reviews (e.g. I’d give him a knighthood because my kids enjoyed TisWAs so much. I think it’s the “Sir” that rankles with the theatrical establishment … but it was earned for years of selfless work on Comic Relief, not for stage work. Apparently, (Sir) Lenny Henry dried on press night and had to walk off, and the reviews went for the jugular. The initial press on Educating Rita was so universally bad, that we nearly decided to bin our tickets and not bother. We have seen (Sir) Lenny Henry in The Comedy of Errors and in Fences. Ah, well, as set exam books go, I think it’s way better than that perennial of many years ago, John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony, though nowhere near as good as that other perennial, The Great Gatsby. Actually the only ones who didn’t pay attention in this production were two teenage girls near us, who groaned and pretended to be asleep from the first second. Educating Rita updates Pygmalion / My Fair Lady so has words like fuck, wank and wanker in the script instead of Bernard Shaw’s then shocking bloody. AND it’s about a Northern working class female, failed by “the system,” who wins through. If I ask you to spot the two that are of significantly lesser quality, you’re not going to have much trouble, are you? Two of them are GCSE exam specials, there because they tick the right PC boxes and are an educationalist’s idea of what the kids would like. An uncomfortable selection : Hamlet, Great Expectations, The Color Purple, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Macbeth, Educating Rita, Romeo & Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby. Stuffed full of examination “Pass Notes” from various publishers. Educating Rita performed at the Minerva TheatreĪ box in a charity bookshop. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |