Theatre Royal, Glasgow 3 stars It may be more than thirty years since Willy Russell’s Thatcher-era two-hander of working-class aspiration first appeared, but, with higher education once again becoming the preserve of a privileged elite, there’s an accidental poignancy to what is essentially a platonic rom-com with knobs on. Tamara Harvey’s touring production, co-produced by the Chocolate Factory and Theatre Royal Bath, nails its Scouse colours to the mast from the off by using orchestral instrumental versions of Beatles songs as pre-show music. When pop got ideas above its station in this way and went classical, the legion of mop-topped auto-didacts that came out of the closet were clearly kin of Russell’s Rita. Claire Sweeney is almost too perfectly cast as the gobby hairdresser who breezes into the book-lined study of clapped-out Open University lecturer Frank, played with warm-hearted diffidence by Matthew Kelly. As they move through a succession of 1980s cosy cardies, there’s a knowing brio in the pair’s exchanges that captures Russell’s sense of cross-class co-dependency, even as the student outgrows her teacher. Having brought each other back to life, if Frank is a pickled hangover of a more patrician era, one only hopes Rita doesn’t lose her common touch to some of the era’s more materialistic pursuits beyond knowledge. While on one level Russell’s play is a rose-tinted time capsule of a more open British education system, it also offers a glimpse of what is – or was – possible. One still can’t help but wonder about all the latter-day Ritas who slip through the net. Perhaps they don’t have the hunger of Russell’s heroine. Or perhaps they just weren’t given the chance to change themselves enough to find their voice. The Herald, May 30th2012 ends
Myra McFadyen – Actress Born January 12th 1956; died October 18th 2024 Myra McFadyen, who has died aged 68, was an actress who brought a mercurial mix of lightness and depth to her work on stage and screen. Playwright and artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, David Greig, called McFadyen “an utterly transformative, shamanic actor who could change a room and command an audience with a blink”. Citizens’ Theatre artistic director Dominic Hill described McFadyen’s portrayal of Puck in his 2019 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London as “funny, mischievous and ultimately heartbreaking.” For many, McFadyen will be most recognisable from Mamma Mia!, the smash hit musical based around ABBA songs. McFadyen spent two years on the West End in Phyllida Lloyd’s original 1999 stage production, and was in both film offshoots. Other big screen turns included Rob Roy (1995) and Our Ladies (2019), both directed by Mi...
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