Educating Rita in Eastbourne: two people with lots to learn

Stephen Tompkinson as Frank and Jessica Johnson as Rita. Photo by Robert Day

A lot of people will know Educating Rita just from the film. But as Stephen Tompkinson says, the play is a much richer.

Stephen is Frank alongside Jessica Johnson as Rita as the show continues its 40th anniversary tour at the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne, with dates from February 17-22.

Tickets cost £20-£28.50 (concessions available). Call 01323 412000 or visit www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk.

When married hairdresser Rita enrols on a university course to expand her horizons, little does she realise where the journey will take her. Her tutor Frank is a frustrated poet, brilliant academic and dedicated drinker who’s less than enthusiastic about taking Rita on, but the two soon realise how much they have to teach each other.

“With the play, as opposed to the film,” Stephen says, “you have got just the two actors and just the one set and you have got the whole focus on the interdependent relationship they have got with each other.”

That intensity is precious: “As lovely as it is being in front of a camera, you can find yourself jumping from scene three to scene 73, but on the stage with this, we have got this beautifully piece written by Willy Russell and you go all the way through. You have got a beginning, a middle and an end.