Educating Rita

How does Willy Russell make the opening scene of Educating Rita dramatic and entertaining?



I am going to answer this question by using quotes from the story ‘Educating Rita’ and try to explain them as much as possible and how they affect or have an impact on the story.



    The play opens as Rita meets her tutor, Dr. Frank for the first time. Frank is an unsuccessful middle-aged academic with a drinking problem who has no experience in teaching working-class students but who took on the project for the money.



In Educating Rita Willy Russell uses many dramatic devices. For example one of the devices is in the opening scene when Rita comes in suddenly and with an air of authority, Frank is shocked and unbelieving as he is used to boring, uneventful hours in the office and because of this he cant cope with a lively person barging into his office so he refers to her as a ‘breath of fresh air’. He is also astonished at her determination to learn and finds it impossible to ignore her. Also in the opening scene when Rita comes in, Frank asks her ‘you are’ she answers ‘what am I’ giving the impression that she is intrigued with the question. Then he says ‘pardon’ and she answers ‘what’. This highlights that there is a misunderstanding between Frank and Rita.



The author Willy Russell makes the opening scene entertaining and dramatic using language. Through out the first scene the characters Frank and Rita use interesting and entertaining language. One example that shows this is when Frank asks Rita ‘Do you know Yeats?’   she says ‘’the wine lodge?’’ This illustrates that and she is short on knowledge and has a lot to learn still.



Another example is when Frank says ‘’you are’’ implying what her name was. She replied ‘’who am I’’ as if she didn’t understand. This highlights the difference between their attitudes to their lives. She is lively and animated, anxious to change her life and will do anything...