ONE of the best-loved plays of the past 50 years, Educating Rita, comes to Cirencester’s tiny but adventurous Barn Theatre from Friday 16th May to Saturday 28th June.

Willy Russell’s two-hander, originally staged in 1980 with Julie Walters in the title role, and three years later filmed with Walters again and Michael Caine as the world-weary Open University lecturer Frank, has become a classic of British social comedy, and one of the greatest 20th century roles for an actress.

The Built by Barn production, directed by Stephen Unwin, has the diminutive Ellie Clayton as feisty hairdresser Rita and very tall Justin Edwards as the disillusioned academic.

At the start of the play, Rita is a bright eyed, 26-year-old, married, working class hairdresser who dreams of breaking free from her mundane and routine life. She signs up for an Open University course in literature and meets Frank, a middle aged disappointed writer and somewhat professional drinker.

Even Frank describes himself as “an appalling teacher”, but her sheer zest for life re-invigorates him and a journey of discovery begins for both. Educating Rita is a life affirming, moving and hugely funny play that brings together an unlikely pairing of two worlds in perfect collision.

Justin Edwards has recently appeared in HBO’s The Franchise, and his theatre credits include The Lavender Hill Mob at Cheltenham Everyman Theatre, Antipholus Of Ephesus in Comedy Of Errors with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Tom Kettle in The Ferryman at the Gielgud Theatre. Ellie Clayton’s theatre credits include Julie in The Peaceful Hour at Royal Court Liverpool and Wendy in The New Adventures of Peter Pan at the Gordon Craig Theatre.