There’s more to Rita than meets the eye?

I have just finished reading scene one of a theatre play called “Educating Rita” by Willy Russell. I would like to share with you my first impressions of Susan, or Rita as she prefers to be called, one of the major characters in the story.
When the play opens, Rita meets her tutor, Dr Frank Bryant, at the Open University. Through their dialogue we can infer that Rita is a very intelligent woman in spite of the fact that she has been poorly educated and belongs to the working class.
To begin with, Rita makes some impressive comments about the painting hung on Frank’s office wall, which reveals she can talk about arts and religious sensibly. She then realizes Frank has an alcohol addiction as well as why he has agreed to teach at the Open University: he needs the money. Rita also comments on the differences between the ordinary university and the Open University, which proves she knows what she is doing at enrolling this course. In addition, the moment Frank and Rita talk about books and poetry, we come to think she has good understanding of what certain technical terminology means, although she is still not capable of expressing herself properly.
I think that having changed her name from Susan to Rita is her first step to become a different person. She is unwilling to remain as a hairdresser and a housewife for life, and she wants to change from the inside. While she discovers herself, we will find out if Rita succeeds and becomes the well educated higher class woman she really longs for.
By Miriam Rodriguez