Willy Russell wrote 'Educating Rita' in the early 1980's. For the purpose of this essay I will focus on act 1 scene 1. This is the opening scene and also one of the most important in the play. Since this play was first brought out our ideas have changed about it, we now find it more funny and less serious. I will focus on the two main characters Rita and Frank. Rita is a 26-year-old hairdresser who believes education will lead her from her working class life and give her confidence. Frank is a middle-aged alcoholic, who...
mention of Al-Copane and he was around in the 1920's when there was a ban on alcohol in which he provided Chicago with it. This shows the audience it was set in the 20th Century.

The setting for this play is in an Open University, but in particular in Frank's office on the grounds. The theme of this play is that a woman called Rita wants and education and the professor that is supposed to be giving it to her wish he didn't have one. This play puts forward some issues like alcoholism, cancer and marriage.