The Olivier award-winning Educating Rita by Willy Russell has opened at The Menier Chocolate Factory, celebrating its first major London revival. Shirley Valentine, another of Russell’s celebrated shows, will play in repertoire as part of The Willy Russell season. Theatre tickets for both shows are currently on sale.

Rita is a brash, working-class Liverpudlian working as a hairdresser and married to Denny. The monotony of her daily life spurs her to enroll on an Open University course to study English Literature, where she encounters university lecturer and alcoholic Dr Frank Bryant. The effect the two have on each other is quite profound, and as Rita develops new self-confidence, Frank is forced to question his attitude and understanding of life and education.

Jeremy Sam directs the revival of Educating Rita, which premiered in 1980 at The Piccadilly Theatre in London, before being made into to a hugely successful film starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters in 1980.

Larry Lamb stars as lecturer Frank Bryant, with Laura Dos Santos playing Rita. Lamb is best known for roles in Gavin and Stacey and Eastenders, with an extensive line of work with RSC, National Theatre in London, Royal Court and on the West End. Dos Santos recently appeared in Stags and Hens, also by Russell.

Shirley Valentine stars Meera Syal as Meet Shirley, an uninspired Liverpudlian housewife who accompanies her best friend on an expenses-paid holiday to Greece, where she starts to see herself and the world in a new light.

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