Theatre Vamps Presents

Willy Russell’s

EDUCATING RITA

Backstage@TheRoyal

Waterford theatre company Theatre Vamps are proud to being their production of Willy Russell’s EDUCATING RITA to the Theatre Royal, Waterford on Friday June 30^th and Saturday July 1^st.

Frank is a washed-up poet, who now teaches at university to pay for his drinking habits. Rita is a foul-mouthed hairdresser who wants to improve herself despite the objections of her boyfriend and family. Together these two strangers find they have a lot more in common that they think in this hilarious and heart-warming story.

Sometimes students are the best teachers.

NICOLA SPENDLOVE is an NUI Maynooth Creative Writing graduate and a multi award-winning actress. She has taken a starring role in numerous productions in Garter Lane and Theatre Royal since beginning her acting career in 2017. Nicola is an Arts Council funded playwright, her work has received much critical and audience acclaim in both Waterford and Dublin. Nicola has a whippet.

DEREK FLYNN is an author, playwright, musician, and actor with a Masters in Creative Writing from Trinity College, Dublin. His award-nominated plays have been performed in various venues throughout Ireland, including the prestigious “Scene + Heard” Festival in Smock Alley, Dublin. He is also the co-founder and co-editor of the literary magazine The Waxed Lemon.

Derek and Nicola have worked together in the past: Nicola starred in Derek’s play Memoirs of a Ghost, which was nominated for five Waterford News & Star Green Room Awards, including “Best New Play” and “Best Actress”. Their most recent work together was A Strangely Useless Thing – a play they co-wrote and starred in together – which theatre critic, Pat McEvoy, called “first class entertainment”.