Ah, Pygmalion. Would we even have a culture without it? It's been inspiring middle-aged cradle-snatchers for centuries. The Cypriots are to blame. Then again, Ovid first brought him to first prominence, with his Metamorphoses. The Pyg was a bloke who fell in love with a female statue, of his own making. Long story short GB Shaw used it for his 1913 play of the same name, in which 'lion became Henry Higgins. Leslie Howard did the character proud in 1938. You probably knew that. (But I bet you had no idea The Three Stooges took up the mantle, with Hoi Polloi, a few years prior.) Lerner & Loewe gave us the gift of My Fair Lady; Eddie Murphy traded places; Gere and Roberts tarted it up, with Pretty Woman and, somewhere in there, Willy Russell wrote Educating Rita, one of its finest adaptations.
The two Annas, Cottrell & Crawford, are responsible for a very fine production of the last, at the unassuming Tap Gallery Theatre, which has seen good, bad and ugly. This sits, very comfortably, in the first camp. Crawford, co-producer and director was, admittedly, ahead of the game when I entered the cosy backroom, since fond memories of her A Year With Frog & Toad, at the Ensemble, still enchant my consciousness. It was, without a doubt, the best kids' theatre of last year. No wonder it got the GLUGS gong for it.
The Ensemble heritage has a lot to do with this production. Crawford, for example, was its very first director's fellow, last year. She's also received the Order of Australia Association NSW (I didn't know there was one) Young Director's Training Grant (I didn't know there was one). She well-and-truly deserves all the above and, I'd suggest, something extra for this latest work. Maybe a Governorship.
Cottrell, too, emanates from the Kirribilli training-ground, having graduated from Ensemble Studios, in 2002.
Both these sheilas are precociously talented.
Another precocious talent (again, in a very good way) is Catherine McGraffin, another Ensemble grad ('05). Her resume already reads like Dame Judi Dench and includes tough classics like Death Of A Salesman. It occurs I must've seen her in Tunks' estimable The Bridesmaid Must Die. Performances in that play tended towards the shrill. Thank heavens McG has transcended that ham status, showing her true colours, as a very, very good actor. From accent and demeanour, to utterly convincing tears, she thoroughly inhabits the role of Susan 'Rita' White, the open university student, who's an innocent, open book, until she takes on the mantle of academic wiles instilled by her doting mentor, the pisspot prof, Frank 'Mary' Bryant. Bravo!
As her opposite, in this cleverly scripted double-hander (it's delicious), Michael Ross is just the ticket, too.
Set is uncredited, but it evokes Frank's book-strewn, musty room, in a crusty Northern English uni, circa 1980, admirably. Tony Vivaldi's platinum-plated hit, The Four Seasons, is actually used to good effect, also. Lighting design, by Larry Kelly, is suitable straightforward, for what is a very conventional play.
On that note, may I observe (I think not for the first time) that, when all's said and done, there's little, or nothing, more satisfying, or nourishing than a well-written, well-played mainstream play, without affectation, allusion, allegory, irony or, indeed, any of the hallmarks of literature referred to inside this one?
Allow me an example (ok, so there's sarcasm): the good doctor has been reported, by his students, for giving a drunken lecture, which gives rise to a bitter-and-twisted rant about academic culture.
'Will they sack you?', Rita implores. 'Good God, no! That would involve making a decision. Pissed is all right. To get the sack, it would have to be rape, on a grand scale. And not just with students, either. That would only amount to a slight misdemeanour. No, for dismissal it would have to be nothing less than buggering the Bursar.'
There are many other wise and witty cracks. And I do mean wise. And witty. And one or two straight gags; a couple at Aussie expense. Setting our legendary lack of sophistication in his sights, Frank jokes that we named a beer after the author of Howard's End. Clue. Not Toohey's.
Small play. Big heart.
Small theatre. Brilliant production.
Keep your eye on Cottrell, Crawford and McGraffin. They are the Nevins & Blanchetts of tomorrow.
EDUCATING RITA
by Willy Russell
Directed by Anna Crawford
Venue: TAP Gallery Theatre | 278 Palmer St, Darlinghurst
Dates: 10 - 22 March
Times: Tuesday to Saturday 8pm, Sun 5pm
Tickets: $25 and $20 conc. Preview/Tight Tues all tix $16
Bookings: 1300 GET TIX (438 849) or www.moshtix.com.au
Last minute bookings: <3 hours before show 0414 725 648
