Educating Rita Compare and Contrast

"Educating Rita" is the semi-autobiography of playwright Willy Russell. The play was inspired by Russell's experiences at evening classes. Much of the comedy arises from Rita's fresh, unschooled reaction to the classics of English literature. But she is never patronized by the Russell, who recognizes from his own experience that education is a means of escape from one's own circumstances. "Educating Rita" takes the lives of two people on the opposite ends of the social spectrum and brings them together in the pursuit of education. It is a small intimate play, but it tells a story of big ideas; ideas close to Willy Russell's heart. There is a lot of humor in the writing, but it is also a serious play about class and choice.

The play "Educating Rita" by Willy Russell gained great popularity especially during the early eighties. There has also been a movie made from it starring Julie Walters and the more famous Michael Caine. As so often the case, the movie was more elaborate with additional scenes, some of which were spoken of or retold by the actors in the play. The movie also included several actors while the play only featured two, Frank and Rita. After having read the play and seen the movie I am struck by a number of differences. Seemingly subtle, many small details have a great impact on how the story is being perceived. The movie offers much more background information on other characters and events that are important to the story.

I think showing the off-stage characters is the major difference of the movie compared to the play. There are a lot of off-stage characters in the play. In the play, Rita mentions the off-stage characters to Frank when they are talking, but they never really appear and take part in the conversations. In the movie, however, off-stage characters like Denny (Rita's husband), Trish and Rita's mom turn up and take part in Rita's conversations and her life actively. Everything Rita experiences with those characters is shown in detail in the movie. For example, the scene where Rita's mom starts to cry in the pub and the scene where Trish is committing suicide (in the play Trish is only trying to commit suicide). This scene is depicted in an exaggerated manner in the movie. There is even one scene in the movie that does not happen in the play, it is made up completely: The marriage of Rita's little sister.

The fact that the audience meet with only two characters in the play is limiting in the sense that a lot of information is implicit or even withheld. In the book the only persons who appear are Rita and Frank and we only get to know Julia, Frank's girlfriend, by a telephone call, where we do not even "hear" her. The readers can only assume what she is saying. But, in one of the first scenes of the film, Julia herself comes to Frank to ask him about dinner. At that time the viewers can also see that Julia and Frank work in the same university, whereas in the book there is no hint of what Frank's girlfriend is doing except looking after food. The movie also shows that Julia has an affair with a married man, who is actually a friend of Frank. The character of her lover is not mentioned in the book at all.

I think the role of Julia's lover has the purpose of adding some fun to the film. Because every time when he and Julia meet, they finally always kiss each other and Frank enters unexpectedly. The lover runs to the telephone and pretends calling his publisher. During those phone calls he always argues with his imagined partner about the publishing date of his book. One time when Frank enters his house and recognizes that his so-called friend is phoning his publisher again, he tells him that he could hang up because the telephone is not working. The bill has not been paid so it has been shut down. In that moment, Julia tells Frank that she is going to leave him and she admits to have an affair.

Moreover, the audience comes to know Rita's husband Denny better in a movie than in the play. He is not only spoken of, in the film but also has some important appearances. For example there is one scene in which he changes the house to build a room for a baby. By this acting, it is made clear for the viewers, how much Denny wants to become a father. Denny, strongly opposes Rita spending time on education. He wants her to have a baby and become a house-wife and throughout most of the play he is trying to make