MUCH-LOVED actor Stephen Tompkinson is starring in a show at Keswick's Theatre by the Lake this week.

Tompkinson plays the part of Frank in Educating Rita, Willy Russell's hilarious and heart-warming comedy.

It follows the journey of Rita (Jessica Johnson) - from young, fast-talking Scouser hairdresser, desperate to break out of the relentless cycle she has been born into, to an educated woman with an ocean of choices in front of her.

While her trajectory is clearly on the rise and she morphs from giddy girl in lippy, heels and tight short skirts to articulate student in dungarees and DMs, her university tutor appears on more of a downward spiral.

Frank is a frustrated poet, brilliant academic and dedicated drinker.

The play is set in the tutor’s airless room – you can practically smell the dusty books lining every shelf. He is pretty dusty himself, dressed in various shades of brown, wearing the classic cordury jacket and in need of a good haircut.

His new student is immediately won over by the sheer amount of literary classics in one room. It’s a while before she realises what they are masking.

While they come from different ends of the spectrum in terms of education, class and lifestyle, within the confines of this stifling room they move beyond all that and do a fair bit of sparring but ultimately connect, realising how much they have to teach each other.

It’s an intense two-man play with fascinating characters at its core. There’s cracking dialogue, lots of emotion and humour, which the director and actors deliver beautifully.

There's fantastic energy between Tompkinson and Johnson in this Theatre by the Lake and David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers co-production.

The pair are perfect for their parts and won us all over from the moment Rita came crashing into Frank's life.

Educating Rita runs until Saturday, April 27.

Tracy Walker