Photo Flash: Educating Rita & Shirley Valentine at the Menier Chocolate Factory

The Menier Chocolate Factory will present the first major London revivals of Willy Russell's award-winning Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, playing in repertoire from 26 March to 08 May, with the press day on 08 April.

Educating Rita, directed by Jeremy Sams, and Shirley Valentine, directed by Glen Walford, will both be designed by Peter McKintosh.

As well as Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, both of which were made into major award-winning features films, playwright, lyricist and composer Willy Russell is the author of the long running West End hit Blood Brothers. His other work includes John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert; Stags and Hens; One for the Road and Breezeblock Park. His writing for television includes Our Day Out and One Summer. Russell's plays have been performed in many countries across the globe, winning countless awards as well as academic honours.

E D U C A T I N G R I T A

J eremy Sams will direct Larry Lamb and Laura Dos Santos in Willy Russell's Educating Rita.

Much to the dismay of her husband Denny, Rita, a young, brash hairdresser, has recently discovered a passion for English literature and enrols with the Open University. Her fresh, unschooled reaction to the classics challenges the attitudes of the University and her lecturer Frank who begins to question his own understanding of his work and himself.

S H I R L E Y V A L E N T I N E

Glen Walford will direct Meera Syal in Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine.

Meet Shirley: a middle-aged Liverpudlian housewife who talks to the wall whilst preparing her husband's egg and chips. She's in a rut. What has happened to her life? When her best friend wins an all-expenses-paid vacation for two to Greece she packs her bags, heads for the sun and starts to see the world and herself rather differently....