EDUCATING RITA: TALKING TO STEPHEN TOMPKINSON & JESSICA JOHNSON
Willy Russell’s modern-classic Educating Rita is back at Kingston’s Rose Theatre this August. Aiming to complete a tour that has had countless interruptions, and re-scheduling owing to you know what, we caught up with the show’s cast of two, Stephen Tompkinson and Jessica Johnson to find out more…
AFTER A STOP-START TOUR THAT SEEMS TO HAVE LASTED LONGER THAN WE COULD IMAGINE, YOU’RE FINALLY BACK ON THE ROAD – HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK ON STAGE IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE?
JESSICA Oh, it’s just fantastic. It’s wonderful to be back and great to see the audience and their confidence building.
STEPHEN Absolutely; people don’t seem as reticent as they were when we were back at The Rose last year because social distancing was still a new thing then. But people are determined to throw themselves into whatever they can get at the moment, and fortunately, we’ve been able to continue on this journey we started three years ago.
IS THE CONFIDENCE OF THE AUDIENCE INCREASING AS THE SHOWS AND DAYS GO ON?
JESSICA You can hear their laughter and everybody feels a lot more comfortable. We’re the same, as well as being on stage; we love to be in the audience as well, so it’s just fantastic to see everyone back in the space they love. And the feedback online has been wonderful, everyone just saying how good it is to be back in the theatre.
WITH THE STOP-START NATURE OF RECENT EVENTS, HOW HAVE YOU COPED MENTALLY WITH THE IF’S AND BUT’S OF PERFORMING AND YOUR CAREERS?
STEPHEN I think we were fortunate to have David Pugh as our producer – tenacious doesn’t quite cover the description – he works so hard and keeps in touch so regularly that we always knew we would be performing the show somewhere at some point.
JESSICA He was so determined, wasn’t he? He’s been in close contact with us throughout, so we always knew we would come back.
STEPHEN By the end of September, we would have done 265 performances.
HOW DOES PERFORMING AS A CAST OF TWO DIFFER FROM OTHER ROLES YOU’VE HAD IN THE PAST?
STEPHEN It’s great. When you get a piece that is crafted so well, there is a reason these plays last so long. The advice you always give to writers is to write what you know about. Willy (Russel) was a ladies hairdresser for a number of years before he went back into education later on and became a teacher, so he’s both characters, really. The audience root for both characters and their relationship. It’s always beautiful to play and very different each time you perform it in front of an audience. Different people take it in different ways.
JESSICA And it’s relevant. It’s certainly changed over the last three years. A lot of people have had big changes in their life because of Covid; maybe being made redundant, doing charitable work or working in the community, and they’ve made life changes, and that story of Rita is always going to be universal, but that’s really resonating at the minute. This idea of an incredibly brave working-class woman making major life-changing decisions – that’s the real journey. It’s what they fInd out about each other and about the world around them as well.
I UNDERSTAND WILLY RUSSEL ATTENDED REHEARSALS BEFORE THE TOUR – HOW WAS IT HAVING THE MAN HIMSELF THERE?
STEPHEN You kind of think that after 40 years, he might have got tired of this play, but he was as enthusiastic as ever and was happy to take sections out of the original text. In the 40 years since he wrote it, audiences have changed; they’ve got a lot savvier and don’t need to be spoon-fed as much as they were in 1979 / 1980. He was there for the first half of every week of rehearsal, and he keeps in touch and catches up with us whenever he can – we feel very, very honoured that he’s chosen to do that.
AN ICONIC PLAY THAT WAS PORTRAYED ON-SCREEN BY SIR MICHAEL CAINE AND JULIE WALTERS, HOW DOES THIS STAGE PRODUCTION DIFFER, AND WHAT CAN AUDIENCES EXPECT ON THE NIGHT?
JESSICA Well, it’s just the two of us on stage, so you get to hear about the other characters, but you don’t get to meet them.
STEPHEN Yes, two characters in one setting. You follow them over the academic year, and it’s just beautifully crafted. It’s very separate from the film.
JESSICA We were very much focused on the writing. We wanted to make the script sing. The honesty and the humanity that Willy gives you – we wanted to honour that.
STEPHEN After the first night that we performed, he came into the dressing room and came up to Jess and me and said, “thank you for giving me my playback”. So if we got to achieve anything, it was making Willy happy with his own work again. It was the least we could do.
DO YOU HAVE ANY EXPERIENCES THAT CONNECT YOU WITH THE CHARACTERS THAT HAVE HELPED YOU WITH THESE ROLES? ANY UNEXPECTED RELATIONSHIPS THAT HAVE HELPED YOU ON YOUR WAY THROUGH THIS THING CALLED LIFE?
JESS, I think there are some obvious similarities there – I would identify as a working-class girl, that’s certainly my roots that I have in common with her. I admire her character and bravery more than anything else. I first picked up the play when I was 14 when it was given to me by my drama teacher as a suggested audition monologue. It was the first time I had heard a working-class voice coming off the page and being alive and something that I could hold on to. Like the general public, I have held Rita close to my heart – she’s certainly inspired me and helped me have a voice as well.
STEPHEN For me, everyone remembers that magical teacher at school, and mine was a guy called Geoff Lynam who believed I was good enough to become an actor. And I wasn’t the only one in my school, thanks to him, who did take up acting. He was a very inspirational teacher.