SHE was a woman who captured the hearts of a nation, when Julie Walters brought her to life so brilliantly on the big screen.

Rita, a Liverpool housewife, is trapped in a stale marriage to a man who sees the world through the bottom of a beer glass.

Fed up with her lot, our heroine decides to better herself by doing an Open University course in English Literature. The experience opens up a whole new world for her and it is through her studies she meets her tutor, Frank, a funny but flawed character who is racked with disillusionment.

Their relationship forms the basis for one of Britain's best loved comedies, and next week the Library Touring Theatre Company will bring the stage version of Educating Rita to Trafford.

As far as plays go, Willy Russell's classic piece of theatre is no spring chicken - its first outing on the professional stage was over 25 years ago. And yet the play has lost none of its appeal. Roger Cook, who is playing the hard drinking Frank in the LTTC's production, believes he knows why.

"It's a feel good comedy - it makes people feel good and it makes them laugh. The second reason would be that one of its themes is about the culture change in the play when someone like Rita is taking a degree and she finds that all her values and relationships change. It's very difficult for her, being from a working class background, to cope with this and even though the play was written many years ago, that still applies today," he says.

* The Library Touring Theatre Company presents Educating Rita by Willy Russell at the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale on November 18 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from 0161 912 5616.