REVIEW: Educating Rita comes to Eastbourne

From when he played a young Catholic priest in the Irish TV drama Ballykissangel in the late 1990s to his tenacious and aloof portrayal of DCI Banks on ITV, Tompkinson has never failed to impress as he fluently turns his hand to serious or comic actor.

And currently treading the boards in Educating Rita at the Devonshire Park this week, the former Drop the Dead Donkey star makes the change from TV to stage as smooth as the tipple he constantly knocks back as Frank Bryant, the hard working, hard drinking academic professor who takes married hairdresser Rita under his wing when she enrols on a university course to better herself.

Liverpudlian Rita is played by award winning actor Jessica Johnson, who is a delight to watch and portrays the emotions of the aspiring young woman with a heartfelt performance.

Her scouse dialect wavers at times during the show but she more than makes up for that with her enthusiasm and pure stage presence.

Tompkinson, as you would expect me to say, is brilliant as the frustrated poet fed up with life, who starts to learn more about life and love as he guides the passionate Rita through her Open University course.

Both Tompkinson and Jessica Johnson are no strangers to the role as they toured together with it last year amid rave reviews and both say they are delighted to be reunited on the stage for 2020.

It’s now been 40 years since Willy Russell’s heart warming comedy was first performed on stage and it’s right to say that the universal story of two lost souls who meet at the right time to help each other in life stays with you for a long time after the curtain has fallen.

Willy Russell’s Educating Rita is at the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne until Saturday February 22 with nightly performances at 7.45pm, and Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm.

Tickets are priced £20-£28.50 and to book call the box office on 412000 or online at eastbournetheatres.co.uk