Chronicle Herald Review of ‘Educating Rita,’ Directed by Pamela Halstead
Valley Theatre Breathes New Life into Old Comedy
Posted by Elyssa Barnard on July 31, 2012
Educating Rita, starring Andrea Lee Norwood and Todd Duckworth, runs to Aug. 18 at Valley Summer Theatre in Wolfville. Rita, the working-class hairdresser who wants to embrace English literature and a new life, smokes electronic cigarettes in this production. (Photo and caption courtesy The Chronicle Herald, 2012)
Valley Summer Theatre produces a delightful, heartwarming and genuine Educating Rita, with Andrea Lee Norwood as the working-class hairdresser trying to find herself.
Norwood won a Robert Merritt Award in 2008 for her portrayal of Helen Keller at Neptune Theatre. It’s high time to see this young Nova Scotian actress in another starring role.
She bites into Rita as if the character were as delicious as the Just Us! cafe cookies and squares outside the intimate Al Whittle Theatre in Wolfville.
Willy Russell’s 1980 comedy is about a young, married hairdresser who thirsts for a better life and has signed up for an Open University course taught by the cranky, failed poet Frank, who has turned to drink to cope with his misery.
Much of the comedy arises from Rita’s unschooled reaction to the classics of English literature, but this production, directed by Pamela Halstead, also goes for the heart. It is quite moving.
Norwood has wonderful transformative powers, and her Rita is dazzling and joyful. Ottawa actor Todd Duckworth is a good match for Rita as Frank.
He is Harrison-Ford haggard, with unkempt hair and a tweed jacket. This Frank is selfish and a bit peevish under all the bluster and witty talk, yet lovable and loving. He really does not consider himself superior to Rita.
Each actor has to subtly shift his or her character in each scene and it’s compelling theatre.
I have seen the play before, as well as the 1983 movie Educating Rita, starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters — hasn’t everyone of a certain age?
However, being of a certain age, I had forgotten how sharp and funny the writing is, how well structured the play and how dynamic the relationship between Frank and Rita.
Apart from the strong performances, Valley Summer Theatre breathes fresh life into this comedy with fast-paced direction and a top-notch design team of lighting designer Leigh Ann Vardy, set designer Victoria Marston, whose beautifully detailed office full of dark wood and books is cosy and stifling, and sound designer Sandy Moore, who punctuates scene changes with elegant musical riffs as opposed to pop tunes.
Costume designer Janet MacLellan signals Rita’s slow-then-dramatic changes in character and situation.
In one scene, her trampy high heels have been changed for classier pumps; later she goes totally bohemian. The time period is left vague. Apart from ’80s references in the text, it could be today, with the pink hair extensions and vintage looks.
At the beginning, it takes a while to get used to Rita’s accent and the rapidity of her speech in order to accurately hear her.
Educating Rita runs about 2 hours, including intermission, to Aug. 18.
Cigarettes are key to the text and in this production electronic cigarettes — long things with a glowing red end — are used. While the actors initially exhale vapour, there is no odour or smoke at all.
Read More at The Chronicle Herald
