Educating Rita

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Adam Mather 10WS                                                   10th December

Discuss the Success of this Introduction to the Play’s Characters and themes.  Do you think Willy Russell has successfully made his opening Dramatic and Entertaining?

I think that Willy Russell has made the introduction of the play, Educating Rita, dramatic and entertaining because he uses techniques such as:

  • Just two characters
  • Set in just one room
  • Humour
  • Similarities between Rita and Frank – both read books, and smoke etc.
  • Similarities between Rita and Willy Russell – both from Liverpool, both hairdressers and from working class backgrounds.

Educating Rita is a stage comedy written by Willy Russell which premièred at The Warehouse, London, in 1980.  The two characters are:

Frank – an unsuccessful, upper class man who is in his fifties, writes poems and is a university lecturer.  He is tired and jaded and has not looked out of his large bay window or looked at his nude, religious picture for about ten years.  Frank is an alchoholic who pulls out a book at the beginning of the play and behind it appears a bottle of whisky.  He then pours a large slug into a mug.   He only works so he can buy more drink.

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Rita – A young 26 year old, working-class hairdresser, who is loud, inquisitive and uses lots of slang – “I’m comin’ in, aren’t I?  It’s that stupid bleedin’ handle on the door.  You wanna get it fixed!”  This is the first time Rita speaks and she doesn’t appear to be very formal.  Rita lives with her husband Denny but when he finds out that Rita is still on the pill he rips up all her papers and books and burns them and tells Rita that she either gives up her education or she will be forced out of her home and ...

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