![]() You,” Long growls loudly, stretching out each word, staring at Rita from across the stage, and leaning in for emphasis. “I don’t think I can bear it any longer,” he says. Late in the play, Frank is fed up with Rita’s presumptions. When she does so, however, the actors respond brilliantly. Even their costumes, designed by Nancy Brennan, highlight their disparities: Rita’s bright blonde hair and orange and green checkered skirt contrast sharply with Frank’s dull brown suit jacket and gray slacks.Īitken switches to a more serious mood only when necessary. ![]() The effectiveness of this balance is in part due to the comic contrast between Pfitsch’s bustling, sassy Rita and Long’s scruffy, lackadaisical Frank. The most prominent success of “Educating Rita” is its ability to stay lighthearted and humorous while dealing intermittently with intense subjects. ![]() Admist countless jokes, the two stumble through issues of gender, class, conformity, social and personal change, and the dangers and value of a “proper” education. As the two meet for their weekly sessions, Rita sweeps Frank off his feet with her unbridled curiosity and hunger for knowledge, and Frank transforms Rita’s world by introducing her to literature, the world of art, and new ways of thinking. She convinces the eternally tipsy Frank to tutor her, and thus begins a complex, mutually educational relationship. The story begins with Rita, a hairdresser who enters the Open University in northern England to study literature because she is dissatisfied with her life. But the humorous surface of “Educating Rita” hides thematic depth: under the skillful direction of Maria Aitken, this seemingly simple comedy hammers home serious messages about change, courage, the dangers of conformity, and the value of an education. Often, it’s Rita’s comically ridiculous facial expression, as she looks at Frank: eyes wide, eyebrows cocked, a half smile on her face. Elsewhere, it’s the witty banter between Frank and Rita. At times, it’s the characters’ mannerisms, such as Frank rummaging through his books murmuring the names of authors only to exclaim “Dickens!” when he finally finds what he was looking for: not a book, but a bottle of scotch. Willy Russell’s “Educating Rita”-a Huntington Theatre Company production running until April 10 at the Boston University Theatre-is packed with comedic successes. “I may have fallen, my dear,” he says proudly to his tutee Rita (Jane Pfitsch), “but I went down talking and came up talking. Frank Bryant (Andrew Long) recounts a lecture he just gave during which he took an inebriated tumble from his lectern. Sprawled drunkenly in the middle of the floor with his feet propped against an elegant mahogany desk, Dr.
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