A major revival of Willy Russell’s Educating Rita will open the Playhouse’s 2015 Spring Season. The production, directed by Everyman & Playhouse Artistic Director Gemma Bodinetz, will mark the play’s 35th anniversary. Rita will be played by Leanne Best who can be seen in the forthcoming series of Fortitude (Sky Atlantic), The Outcast (B.B.C.) and Home Fires (I.T.V.) and Frank will be played by Con O’Neill who stars in Channel 4’s Cucumber and Banana and the B.B.C.’s Uncle. The production runs at the Williamson Square venue from Friday 6th February to Saturday 7th March.
The production of Educating Rita will be the first to be staged professionally in Liverpool for 13 years. Willy Russell is one of the world’s most successful playwrights and Educating Rita stands as one of his most iconic creations. His work has attracted huge and appreciative audiences all over the world and his plays and musicals have won countless awards.
Leanne Best returns to her home city to play the title role after more than a decade of successes on stage with the Everyman & Playhouse in productions including The Match Box, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and Unprotected as well as A Streetcar Named Desire and The Hypochondriac both directed by Gemma Bodinetz. On screen Leanne can currently be seen in Ripper Street (Amazon Prime) and Woman in Black: Angel of Death (Hammer Films) and later this spring will feature in three major television series: Fortitude (Sky Atlantic), The Outcast (B.B.C.) and Home Fires (I.T.V.).
Frank is played by former Everyman Youth Theatre member Con O’Neill. Con has an illustrious association with Willy Russell’s work, winning an Olivier Award and Tony nomination for Blood Brothers, he starred in Dancin’ Thru the Dark, the film adaptation of Russell’s Stags and Hens and recently appeared in One For The Road at Northampton Royal & Derngate. Con last appeared on stage in Liverpool at the Everyman in Dead Heavy Fantastic and he is well-known for Telstar (New Ambassadors Theatre & Aspiration Films),The Ladykillers (The Vaudeville) and A View From The Bridge (Royal Exchange Theatre). This spring Con can be seen in Uncle (B.B.C.) and Channel 4’s ground-breaking series Cucumber and Banana.
Artistic Director Gemma Bodinetz said, “Educating Rita is rightly acknowledged to be one of the great plays of the 20th century. To be directing it in its home city with such a remarkable cast, both of whom began their careers here, is an honour and a joy.”
Willy Russell said, “I’m really delighted to be back at the Playhouse, a theatre with which I’ve had such a long and fulfilling association. I’m equally delighted to be working with Gemma Bodinetz and the great cast she has assembled – both Leanne Best and Con O’Neill are superb actors and it’s a real pleasure to have them perform the play here in Liverpool where both their (and my) careers began.”
Tickets for Educating Rita are priced from £12.50 to £25 and are available from the Box office in Williamson Square or by telephone on 0151 709 4776.