Educating Rita with Renaissance

The trick to putting on great theatre in a studio space is working with the intimacy. Explore something really close between two or three people that plays out on a small canvas and it can be every bit as breathtaking as an epic drama with a huge cast. Smaller theatre companies around town with no money worth speaking of have proven this countless times over the years. 

Renaissance Theaterworks has also proven this a number of times over the years. One of the more memorable shows to be staged in the past 5 years was Renaissance's staging of Blackbird in 2010, which had Brian Mani and Carrie Coon in a unflinching dramatic look at a relationship between an older man and a younger woman years after it happened. This month, Renaissance opens another look at a relationship between a man and a woman with a pair of really, really great actors. This one is a comedy about an instructor and a young hairdresser who has come to take classes from him. It's a British comedy from the early '80s called Educating Rita. Jonathan Smoots plays an alcoholic career academic. He's bitter. He's cynical. The revolution came and went without really changing anything . . . Smoots should be great in this kind of role. He's got a very lithe and commanding presence onstage and it should be fun to see it tilted into a role like this. Christina Panfilio plays the title character--a hairdresser from Liverpool who is taking classes at Open University. There's a intellectual awakening that should be fun to watch in Panfilio, who has been in quite a lot locally,  but never really had quite this opportunity with a female lead before. 

Renaissance Theaterworks' Educating Rita runs January 18th through February10th at The Broadway theatre Center's Studio Theatre. For ticket reservations, call 414-291-7800 or visit Renaissance online.