From the moment hairdresser Rita enters disillusioned university professor Frank’s cramped office, she is a force of nature.
Elizabeth Whitbread’s Rita charms in Pamela Haig Bartley’s staging of Educating Rita to kick off Persephone Theatre’s new season.
Set in 1980s England, brash 29-year-old Rita is dissatisfied with her working-class life, family and friends, and yearns for all the knowledge she can get, signing up for a course at an Open University, and seek tutelage from Sean Hoy’s Frank to prepare for an exam.
Through a series of short scenes set entirely in Frank’s office, Rita finds she’s come to the right place, even if Frank thinks he’s rubbish as a teacher.
While it may sound like George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, upper-class Frank doesn’t want Rita to change, but Rita — whose real name is Susan — wants doesn’t want to just be herself.
Whitbread crackles as Rita, playing her character with gusto, and deliver witty comebacks that land every time. Although Rita’s metamorphosis is evident in her toning down of her accent, her bold clothing choices and changing her hairstyle — a nod the attention to detail — Whitbread conveys that slow transformation across the short scenes.
Paired with Hoy’s subtle, but wide emotional range — which he can convey in a silent moment with a glance, a sigh or sinking into a chair — the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan alums are well-matched in this two-person performance.
Mixed in with the witty dialogue and occasional double-entendres in playwright Russell’s script are weighty issues that are familiar today, despite it being set about four decades ago: controlling relationships, women having agency in their lives, marital breakdown, alcoholism, and social class differences.
The ending, however, feels a bit rushed in the final scene, as though there were a significant jump forward in time to it from the penultimate scene of Frank alone, desperately trying to reach Rita/Susan. Maybe I needed another scene in between setting up Frank’s choices before he makes a life-changing decision at the conclusion of Educating Rita.
Or maybe I’m just greedy for more of the show’s inter-scene song list, complete with songs like Daryl Hall & John Oates’ “You Make My Dreams,” which ground you in a time and place where there were no computers or cellphones.
The seemingly ceiling-high shelf filled with books on the set designed by Jawon Kang deserves a mention. The set, with binders stacked under desks, a corded telephone on the desk, and textured wallpaper, does not waste any space visually.
Overall, Educating Rita gets Persephone Theatre’s new season off to a thoroughly enjoyable start.
Educating Rita runs until Oct. 5 at the Remai Arts Centre. Tickets can be purchased online at persephonetheatre.org.
Review written by Thia James
