Staging a well-known play can be nerve-wracking. An actor who plays Hamlet will be judged not only on their own interpretation of the text, but also against all of the legendary Hamlets that have gone before. And if a play has been made into a popular film, people may come to the theatre with more preconceived ideas than usual – and that goes for actors and directors as well as audience members.

I asked Adrian Goldman if he was concerned about being influenced by, or compared to, Michael Caine’s portrayal of Frank in the 1983 film version of Educating Rita.

“I haven’t seen the film, so have no idea how he did it; other than being Michael Caine, which he is always,” says Adrian.

He’s usually tempted to play roles more seriously, and feels Caine probably played more for laughs. Adrian’s go-to places for comedy have been Noël Coward and ‘handbag’ Oscar Wilde rather than Caine’s ‘London wide guy’, so those are the overtones you might pick up in our version.

Stephanie Carlson makes it a point to avoid watching other productions or portrayals whenever possible, especially right before playing a part herself. 

“I did see the movie years ago,” she says, “and therefore I suppose Julie Walters’ interpretation of Rita is somewhere in the background. But I try to focus on the script and my own personal response to the moments as they occur.”

The director, Hosanna Megumi, is also keen for the actors to bring their own versions of Frank and Rita to life. Movie adaptations often differ from the play or book they’re based on, to a greater or lesser degree, and often for good reason. While this tends to annoy die-hard fans, it can also have its benefits: even if they’ve seen the movie, the original play can still offer the audience something new – and often something deeper and more complex.

“When I finally read the play, I was quite surprised to see how different it was from the movie,” says Hosanna.

Willy Russell wrote Educating Rita in 1980, which makes it an almost historical play. That is, the world has definitely moved on, but the period is still very much in living memory. So, is the play still relevant forty years on?

Stephanie definitely thinks so because, “One of the main themes is that we all have a choice to create the life we want, and that it takes hard work and drive to move forward.”

“The key message for me,” Adrian says, “is that education is the route to choice in life – and this is absolutely true today.”

Hosanna agrees, especially when it comes to women: “It’s something that has improved in many parts of the world since the eighties, but there are many countries where both education and choice are not an option for many girls and women.”

The main themes may still be relevant, but has this play otherwise aged like a fine wine or a neon shell suit? Obviously, it has dated in the same way as every play that was written before we had the ‘internet in our pocket’. Access to information and technology is now on a whole new level throughout all echelons of society.

“When the play was written, people in the working class didn’t have washing machines, didn’t know which wine to buy, etc. Having a fridge was a new thing,” says Adrian.

Workplace drunkenness is also much more frowned upon now, and Frank’s claim that ‘being pissed is a minor misdemeanour’ is no longer quite the case. Another thing that might raise some eyebrows these days is the teacher-student relationship portrayed in the play. Frank is a university lecturer and Rita is his student, and the sexual politics of university life have certainly changed since the eighties.

"If you talked to a student like that these days, you would be hauled up before a disciplinary committee for sexual harassment," says Adrian.

Hosanna also notes that some of the language used in the play is different and inappropriate in today's world. There was actually some debate among the team about whether they should change a specific line or not, as it’s completely inappropriate in today's world and may or may not offend a modern audience.

"I thought a lot about this,” says Hosanna, “and felt that it was important to present things in the way they were written, because that's a representation of the world at that time. We’ve come a long way since the eighties, in both good ways and bad ways, but I feel that we shouldn't erase the past.”

"Yes, it’s a problem," agrees Adrian, "but one has to accept a play on its own terms, or not do it at all. The same is true for, among others, The Merchant of Venice and The Taming of the Shrew."

This does not, of course, mean that we shouldn’t approach these things critically, or debate whether certain things could or should have been better, even back then. And as Educating Rita is a play about education, it seems somewhat fitting that we have the opportunity to learn from it indirectly in this way as well.

“We should show the past in both its ugliest and most beautiful forms, so we can compare it to now and see how far we've come,” says Hosanna.

Photo: Zuzana Šubrtová on Unsplash
Text: Zach Chamberlaine

Read more about Educating Rita