MIND, HUMOR STIRRED BY `EDUCATING RITA' : PLAY EXCELLENT IN CAMARILLO DINNER THEATER.Byline: Victoria Giraud Special to the Daily News I've heard it said that to teach is to learn. This wisdom is certainly appropriate to the Marquie Dinner Theater's latest production, ``Educating Rita Educating Rita is an award-winning stage comedy by British playwright Willy Russell. It is a play for two actors set entirely in the office of a university lecturer. ,'' starring the charismatic team of Laurie Stevens as Rita and Martin Horsey hors·y also hors·ey adj. hors·i·er, hors·i·est 1. Of, relating to, or resembling horses or a horse. 2. Devoted to horses and horsemanship: the horsy set. 3. as Frank, brilliantly directed by Terry Druxman. It's an old theme - remember ``My Fair Lady'' - but played to a slightly different tune. Street-smart, highly vocal and honestly opinionated o·pin·ion·at·ed adj. Holding stubbornly and often unreasonably to one's own opinions. [Probably from obsolete opinionate : opinion + -ate1. , Rita wants an education, a means to discover what she missed in school when she was too busy being one of the gang and blending in to study. A young, married hairdresser, she has chosen Frank, an English professor at a local British open university, as her tutor. Frank is a middle-aged, divorced, burnt-out alcoholic in a stale relationship, with no desire to make any changes in his life until Rita comes along. She's a breath of fresh air, full of wit and almost unconscious perception. Soon we wonder who's teaching whom, and later who needs whom the most. A bright and lively sponge, the attractive Rita, with a little of Frank's guidance, soaks up literature and in the process discovers herself. Learning that ``all I want is what I'm finding within myself,'' she outgrows her laborer husband. Frank grows more and more attached to her but, as she transforms, wonders if she's losing her unique honesty and replacing it with shallow sophistication so·phis·ti·cate v. so·phis·ti·cat·ed, so·phis·ti·cat·ing, so·phis·ti·cates v.tr. 1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly. 2. . Has he become a Frankenstein, creating a monster? Frank, however, has done little self-examination, little growing. There's deep feeling between the two, but will they go further with each other? The ending leaves us to our own conclusions. Stevens is delicious and spirited in the part as she struts A framework for writing Web-based applications in Java that supports the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. Struts is deployed as JSP pages using special tags from the Struts tag library, which includes routines for building forms, HTML rendering, storing and retrieving data and about the stage, never missing a beat with her adopted cockneyish accent. Horsey, who happens to be English and thus did not have to practice the accent, gives the low-key, jaded jad·ed adj. 1. Worn out; wearied: "My father's words had left me jaded and depressed" William Styron. 2. professor a certain wistfulness wist·ful adj. 1. Full of wishful yearning. 2. Pensively sad; melancholy. [From obsolete wistly, intently. . ``Educating Rita'' is a compelling story full of telling observations and wonderful humor. Don't miss it. THE FACTS WHAT: ``Educating Rita'' by Willy Russell William Martin Russell (born 23 August 1947 in Whiston, Merseyside) is a British playwright, author, lyricist and composer. Life Russell comes from a working class background. . WHEN: Thursday, Friday and Saturday through Aug. 10; doors open at 6:30 p.m. with dinner served at 6:45 p.m. WHERE: Marquie Dinner Theater, 340 N. Mobil Ave., Camarillo. COST: $26 per person on Thursdays (seniors $24 on Thurs.), $28 per person Friday and Saturday. INFORMATION: (805) 484-9909. |
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