What is Educating Rita?
{{About|the play|the 1983 film based on the play|Educating Rita (film)}} {{Infobox play | name = Educating Rita | writer = [[Willy Russell]] | genre = [[Comedy]] | setting = | subject = Pygmalion-style drama about a hairdresser's literary quest. | premiere = June 1980 | place = [[Donmar Warehouse]]<br>London | orig_lang = English }} '''''Educating Rita''''' is a stage comedy by British playwright [[Willy Russell]]. It is a play for two actors set entirely in the office of an [[Open University]] tutor. It was Commissioned by the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]]. ''Educating Rita'' premièred at [[Donmar Warehouse|The Warehouse]], London, in June 1980. It starred [[Julie Walters]] and [[Mark Kingston]]. The play was directed by [[Mike Ockrent]]. ==Plot summary== The plays follows the relationship between 26-year-old student Rita and Frank, a middle-aged university lecturer. Rita is a [[Liverpudlian]] [[working class]] hairdresser. It follows them over a year. Act 1 consists of seven scenes. These run from January to May. Act 2 consists of a further seven. These run from September to December. In the play Frank has no surname. When the film was made he became Dr. Frank Bryant. Rita is dissatisfied with the routine of her work. She signs up for an Open University course in [[English Literature]]. The play opens as 'Rita' meets her tutor, Frank, for the first time. Frank is a middle-aged, alcoholic career academic. He has taken on the tutorship to pay for his drink. The two have an immediate and profound effect on one another. Frank is impressed by Rita. He is forced to re-examine his attitudes. Rita finds a new self-confidence. Frank's bitterness and cynicism return. He notices Rita beginning to adopt the university culture he despises. Rita becomes disillusioned. The play ends as Frank is sent to Australia. ==Themes== The play deals with the concepts of freedom, change, England's class system and the shortcomings of institutional education. It deals with the nature of self-development a