Educating Rita

 Curve, Leicester

1^st October 2026

“I had a choice”

In a programme note for this new production of Willy Russell’s 1980 classic Educating Rita, director Cara Nolan explores the timelessness of Russell’s play: ‘Rita’s determination to learn… continues to resonate in a world where opportunity is still shaped by class, gender and circumstance’. Indeed, the changing social and political landscape has in some ways made access to education more difficult. Open University courses like the one Rita enrols on in the play are no longer free. And the perception of education has also vastly changed. As a new academic year starts at universities across the country, students (quite rightly) now have a much stronger understanding of the job market and the value of a degree. There have been benefits of this, including an increase in the number of vocational courses and apprenticeships on offer. But there are downsides too, particularly in the perception of arts and humanities degrees. Would Rita, today, be studying English Literature? Despite this now being a period piece, and Nolan retaining the 1980s setting, Russell’s language, humour and call for the importance of education in opening up opportunities is as fresh and persuasive as ever.

On the margins of Michael Taylor’s set, rubbish litters the stage which is loomed over by a concrete brutalist structure. It’s perhaps a nod to the perceived rigidity of educational institutions and to the working class setting outside the confines of Frank’s office. Inside though, this academic’s office becomes more of a den. Bookshelves tower the room and contain nooks and crannies for alcohol. Bursting into this well lived-in space, with its dark corners and dusty rugs, is Rita (Alexandra Mardell). She literally cannot open the door at first, a metaphor for the inaccessibility of such institutions. Mardell’s Rita is a breath of fresh air. She has a wide-eyed optimism, natural inquisitiveness and joie-de-vivre that Julie Walters also captured in the 1983 film. In a later scene, she oils Frank’s door of her own accord to make it easier to gain entry, another sign of Rita’s self-determination to jump hurdles. Dominic Mafham’s warm, shaggy-haired Frank welcomes Rita with affability and curiosity. The play has an episodic structure and through a series of scenes (over which Katy Morrison’s lighting gently shifts with the seasons), we see the transformational effect of education in this unconventional spin on the Pygmalion story. In the first act, Rita’s hunger for wanting to learn is a constant, but her ability to articulate complex thoughts about complicated pieces of literature grows in confidence. Likewise, Frank’s apathy gives way to glimmers of hope, small reminders of why he loves literature and teaching.

What I love about Russell’s play is its unapologetic admiration in the power of literature as a force for good and its ability to help us understand human nature. Like Alan Bennett’s The History Boys (2004), it reminds me why I wanted to study English 15 years ago at university. Back then, humanities degrees were well-subscribed and lecture theatres full with students. Now they’re often the first courses universities close in cost-cutting efforts. As Hector says in Bennett’s play, the reason he teaches students English and History isn’t so they can produce so-called “gobbets” – ‘handy little quotes that can be trotted out to make a point’ – it’s to make them ‘rounder human beings’. Likewise, in Russell’s play, Rita says to Frank, ‘you think I just ended up with a load of quotes an' empty phrases’. And through her becoming more well-read and learning about the novels of Forster, the plays of Ibsen and the poetry of Blake, education gives Rita choice to be and do as she wants. It also, like The History Boys, ignites debate about the value of popular and high culture. (Sidenote: if you don’t know it, I’d recommend Russell’s poem ‘I Hate Poems’ which I recall learning off by heart as a teenager).

Of course, in the play, Rita’s transformation and Frank’s inertia has repercussions. After Rita returns from summer school, physically transformed with a new hairstyle and even wanting to change her name, Frank’s wondered what he’s achieved. In learning how to answer essay questions, has she lost some authenticity and the raw talent that Frank initially saw in her? Mardell impressively portrays this transformation, growing in maturity as the play progresses, giving a superbly confident performance. The first novel Frank recommends to Rita is E.M. Forster’s Howards End. That too is partly about women seeking fulfilment from art and culture – ‘the inner life has paid’ the Schlegel sisters reflect late in the novel. The novel’s famous maxim is ‘Only connect’. It’s about being curious, compassionate and having empathy: ‘Live in fragments no longer. Only connect’. It’s what Rita (and Frank) achieve in the play. And thanks to Nolan getting the most from both actors, it’s what Mardell and Mafham achieve, ensuring they’re totally at ease with one another.

Educating Rita plays at Curve, Leicester until 17^th October. For more information, please visit https://www.curveonline.co.uk/whats-on/shows/educating-rita/

Dominic Mafham (Frank) and Alexandra Mardell (Rita) in Educating Rita. Credit: Jonathan Pryke