EDUCATING RITA: What themes are developed by Willy Russell in his play 'Educating' Rita, and how does he develop his characters to reflect those themes?

Educating Rita by Willy Russell explores the relationship between the two characters involved in the play, Frank and Rita over a time span, of several months. A variety of themes are explored as Rita, a working class Liverpudlian, aspires to a higher social and academic level so that she may have choices, with Frank, a disillusioned and failed poet as her teacher. As Rita progresses, Russell uses a range of dramatic techniques and tensions between …

…is depicted as the right or wrong one show that the issues involved with both are not straightforward, and that their is not a simple answer to the questions raised by the themes which include education and class. The staging of the play if well done should add to the richness of the audience's experience, and help to show what effect the experiences have had upon each character and how they are changed by them.