Political And Social Commentary In Willy Russell's Educating Rita

Educating Rita encompasses political and social commentary: Rita is an uneducated working class hairdresser, whilst Frank is a highly educated middle class professor of literature. This shows that class is clearly an issue in the play. As well as this, Willy Russell’s play is set against the backdrop of feminism, the opening of higher education with the Open University, and the civil unrest of the Toxteth riots in Liverpool. The play therefore includes political and social commentary. However, this does not necessarily mean that this is first and foremost function of the play. Educating Rita is a two-hander and has a very simplistic set as the whole play takes place in Frank’s office and the only two characters on stage are Frank and Rita,

One of Rita’s main struggles is how restricted her choices are because of the class she was born into. The culture she grew up in meant that if she’d “started takin’ school seriously she would have been different from [her] mates, an’ that’s not allowed”, therefore she was never pushed to become anything more than a mother and a wife. She couldn’t get an education and find herself due to the expectations and the limited choices of her class status. In Act I Scene II Rita tells Frank about an incident with her mother as she cried because she was sure that they could “sing better songs” and how “ten minutes later, Denny had her laughing and singing again, pretending that she hadn’t said it” which shows the discontent of the working class and how they have higher aspirations but no choice because of their class status. This, it could be argued represents the quest for social and political change in the 1980’s, but it also exemplifies Rita’s individual spirit striving for the freedom to choose her own destiny. Denny’s idea that they’ve “got choice because [they] can go into a pub that sells eight different kinds of lager” represents how limited their choices and aspirations are. Even though this is clearly political, it engages the audience as basing one’s belief that you have choice because you have lots of beers to choose from, is anti-climatic and therefore funny. Rita goes on to explain how Denny believes he has choice because he can choose from “one lousy school an’ the next”, between “jobs or the dole” and between “stork an’ butter”. The absurdity of Denny comparing important issues like education and jobs with trivial choices like butter or margarine makes audiences laugh whilst also highlighting the value of education in working class culture. This shows that although Russell includes social commentary, his