It is quite possible that my husband and I were the only adults at the opening night of Educating Rita that haven’t seen the award-winning 1983 film starring Julie Walters and Michael Caine. Certainly, a couple of ladies in front of us at the beautifully bright and plush Oxford Playhouse had seen either the film or play enough times to rejoice in talking about how wonderful the dialogue is during the first half of the performance. But let’s not get started on theatre etiquette and instead focus on this 40th Anniversary production of Willy Russell’s two-hander currently touring the UK.

While I may not have seen the film that catapulted Julie Walters to stardom, I also haven’t been living in a cave, so am aware of the basic plot and themes of the play. I am also aware of Willy Russell’s other works, most notably, from my cultural reference point, the brilliantly funny and poignant Shirley Valentine (I have watched the film version of that several hundred times). It’s interesting that two iconic female characters to come out of 1980s literature are both written by the same person. And a man, no less! It’s kudos to Russell’s pinpoint accuracy in his observations and writing that his plays, and the characters that bring them to life, have endured and continue to flourish. As we settled into the warm bosom of the auditorium, I took in the chaotic set. Designer Patrick Connellan has created a perfect display of musty academia with his untidy floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, huge sash windows and imposing mahogany desk. You can almost smell the books and wood polish. The detail is marvellous and the set soon began to feel like home for the evening.

Frank (Stephen Tompkinson) is a weary academic, a one-time poet who enjoys rather more than a drink or two. He is initially sceptical (at best) about the thought of tutoring a female mature student through an Open University course. Remember, this is set in the early 1980s and the Open University was barely a decade old, opening up further education to people who previously may not have had the opportunity. Enter Rita, played energetically by Jessica Johnson. She first enters the stage as a loud, fast-talking, nervous young woman; opinionated, but still trying to find her place in the world, knowing only that she wants to learn everything. Johnson’s performance is a perfect balance of comic timing and passion, and provides a powerful insight into the social commentary intricately woven into Russell’s script. She is well countered by Tomkinson’s sometimes patronising and jaded - but ultimately vulnerable - Frank, dependent on alcohol (bottles of scotch dotted around behind Dickens and Eliot on his towering bookshelves) to paper over his own inadequacies: the actors are a joy to watch. The acerbic dialogue volleys back and forth with ease, and the chemistry between the actors is clear, giving the performance an air of authenticity that is often lacking in theatre.

I came out of the show feeling as though I had witnessed the poignant progression of an unusual but caring relationship, as well as the development of both characters as individuals – while the play may be about Educating Rita, Frank also learns a great deal as their relationship grows and evolves. As Rita would put it, the show is “dead good”: laugh-out-loud funny but with a great deal of pathos.