Educating Rita The title of the play ‘Educating Rita’ refers to a woman called Rita who decides to enrol on a literature course at an open university. Rita is a working class, 26-year-old hairdresser. She has a husband called Denny who disapproves of Rita’s decision of enrolling on a course at the Open University, as he is worried she is going to turn into a different, more educated woman. The play is set in the 1980’s. Which means that because Rita is working class she has to break
Educating Rita. In the play Educating Rita by Willy Russell we are lead to believe that in the first few scenes Rita and Frank have nothing in common. We assume this on a few small things like the way Rita talks. She is a very out going character who talks like a commoner." you'd better get that bleadin' handle fixed. She hair dresses in a shop and is not happy with the position she is in. She does not have much interest in hair dressing and it does not feel that it is good enough for her
The Character of Rita in Educating Rita In the play of Educating Rita, which is written by Willy Russell, there is a student aged twenty-six years old who is a hairdresser and also is a working class called Rita. Rita lives with her husband called Denny however Rita and Denny love each other so very much. Denny wants Rita to have a baby but Rita is on a pill to stop from having a baby, but Denny does not know about it, but then finds out later in the play. Rita wants to explore herself and
The Humour in Educating Rita ‘Educating Rita’ is a humorous play that was written by Willy Russell in 1979, based on his own life. It is set in Liverpool and depicts the perseverance of a working class, 26-year-old hairdresser with no qualifications called Susan, or as she is called throughout the play, ‘Rita’, as she tries to ‘discover herself’ by participating in an English literature course at the Open University. Her lecturer, who is from a more middle class background, Frank, is somewhat
Main characters are Frank who is a university lecturer and Rita who is a hair dresser. Rita wants to be educated she decides to take an Open University course. The main theme of the play is to be educated. At the start of the scene we hear a conversation between Frank and someone else on the other end of the phone. We hear him arguing if he will go to the pub or not. “What do u mean I determined to go to the pub? I don’t need determination to go to the pub”. This shows his sarcasm. Showing that
Educating Rita Civilization has a tendency to attempt to divide people into different groups. Our environment weighs and measures us; then places us into a certain company. Frank and Rita are the very example of two persons placed in very different social compartments. Their places in society differ greatly as do their roles as student and teacher. And yet as one examines the script of Educating Rita it seems as though two people, who society has attempted to separate from each other in every
Educating Rita Willy Russell’s play “Educating Rita” only uses one main setting and two main characters. Some people may think that these would make the play seem boring. Russell actually makes the play quite interesting and entertaining by using dramatic devices such as the whiskey bottle and the telephone call. He does this to give us as much information as possible about the characters and their personalities. The play, which is set in the early 1980s, deals with the clashes between
Opening Scene of Educating Rita Explore the ways in which Russell engages the audiences interest in the main characters and themes in the opening scene of Educating Rita and explain whether you think the play written in 1979 is still relevant to 2005. Willy Russell’s play, Educating Rita, written in 1979, is a story about a typical lower class woman called Rita who decides she wants to lead an ‘educated life’ and she tries to do this by getting a private tutor called Frank to teach her
Educating Rita Although Rita knows that intellectual enlightenment is important, to Rita, education provides much more to her in Willy Russell’s Educating Rita. Rita’s education is not restricted to scholastic learning alone, her transformation from the uneducated Rita to the educated Susan is all encompassing. Rita sees and understands the importance of being well educated, but for Rita, education helps her to overcome her background and break away from the traditional role expected of a woman
Willy Russell's Educating Rita The play is in a naturalistic setting. The whole play takes place inside one room, namely Frank’s office; a book-lined study in a university in northern England. And by adhering to the unity of place Willy Russell is not just able to concentrate on the drama, but also the humour of the play. The play is set in year it was written, 1985. The play itself is structured into two Acts. The first act deals with Rita beginning her search and her education, trying
Willy Russell's Educating Rita ‘Educating Rita’ explores the way in which a woman, in her late twenties, Rita, has to deal with everyday life, conflict change and different phases as she becomes educated. The play is based on Willy Russell’s own life. At the start of the play, Frank is a more relaxed character. Rita is a hyper and open minded character, searching for adventure. She comes from the working class society and tries to become educated and well respected. Frank on the other hand is
Educating Rita by Willy Russell "Educating Rita", is a two-handed play which only has two characters and one set. "Educating Rita" was written in 1985 by Willy Russell, it looks at how the relationship between two people, Rita and Frank, develops as the play goes on. "Educating Rita" is the story of Rita, a hairdresser who decides to go to University in order to discover who she really is. When she arrives at University she meets Frank, a lazy alcoholic who doesn't really care about being
Educating Rita by Willy Russell Educating Rita is a play written by Willy Russell. It is about a woman called Rita who feels her life is not fulfilled so she goes to Frank who works at an Open University to tutor her. Rita has a husband called Denny. He is working class and has never been to university, like Rita before she goes to she Frank. Frank on the other hand is a lecturer of literature but does not have everything. He is unhappy at home and is often drunk at his tutorials. The
Willy Russell’s Educating Rita, the protagonist’s experience through the Open University is a practice of freedom as she is provided with the opportunities to express her thoughts and discover her own limits. There is an internal struggle within Rita as the new environment threatens to erase her past life. Rita is able to maintain her practice of freedom through the help of Frank, whom provides her with a welcoming and encouraging learning environment. In the beginning of the play, Rita is introduced
the Characters and Themes in Educating Rita GCSE Coursework: In what ways is Act 1 Scene 1 of “Educating Rita” a good introduction to the play’s main characters and themes? Do you think Willy Russell has made his opening dramatic and entertaining? “I’m coming in aren’t I? It’s that stupid bleedin’ handle on the door!” is not the way in which we would expect a new university student to talk to a lecture she had never meet before, but as we later find out, Rita, is not a stereotypical student
Analysis of Educating Rita by Willy Russel The opening scene of Willy Russels “Educating Rita” is very affective in introducing the characters and the theme of the play. He gains the interest of the audience in many different ways. Firstly as the curtain rises we see frank a man in his early fifties in a room on the first floor of a Victorian built university in the north of England. This gives the effect of an intellectual play in a grand environment. As we first introduced to frank he
Changes in Rita's Character throughout Educating Rita With reference to the social context of the play, discuss the ways in which Willy Russell shows the changes in Rita’s character throughout Educating Rita. In the play Educating Rita by Willy Russell there are two main characters, Rita and Frank. Rita is a twenty six year old uneducated hairdresser. She wants a better life for herself; she wants to have an education. She didn’t get a full education at school as she says, ‘See, if I’d
The Effect of Summer School on Rita in Educating Rita by Willy Russell 'Of course; you don't do Blake without doing innocence and experience, do y?' When Frank explains to Rita that after summer school they will study William Blake, Rita says that she has already studied Blake and implies in such a way that she almost disgraces Frank. Before summer school Rita has only been taught Frank and has only learnt his ideas, when she gains her own confidence she then challenges Frank on his views
Different Aspects in Educating Rita by Willy Russell Introduction Educating Rita is a play written by Willy Russell in 1985. The play is based around an Open University (an idea founded in the 1960's where adult students could go to university without having to leave home and study for a degree) in Northern England. One of the central ideas of this play is culture. Russell uses different ideas to represent these cultural differences, for example the use of different dialects, different
Educating Rita - Love Story To answer the question whether or not Willy Russell actually wrote a love story as he intended to do, I consider certain aspects. I find two totally different main characters in Frank and Rita and therefore will be dealing with completely different ways of behaviour and reaction. By interpreting their statements and actions it might be possible to find some kind of conclusion. To begin with it is possible to say that Educating Rita does not seem to be a love story