Educating Rita

Black Treacle Theatre (Anne Boleyn, Iphigenia in Splott) return with Willy Russell’s warm, witty and moving play about the power of education to change lives.

When Rita, a working-class hairdresser hungry for something more, signs up for an Open University literature course, she meets Frank, a disillusioned academic whose passion for teaching has long faded. Their weekly tutorials become a battle of ideas, humour and honesty as Rita’s confidence blossoms and Frank reckons with his own choices and the possibility of a second chance.

As Rita discovers the worlds of art, culture and self-expression, she begins to question the life others expect her to live. But change comes with difficult choices, and both teacher and student must reconsider who they are, and who they want to be.

This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French, Ltd.