Introduction
‘Educating Rita’ is a play, written by Willy Russell focusing on the life of a twenty six year old woman called Susan White who undergoes an academic journey. Susan is married and currently working as a hairdresser. Susan does not wish to settle for family life as she is keen to pursue an education and therefore applies for an Open University course. Susan’s tutor, Dr Frank Bryant is an unsuccessful middle-aged academic with a drinking problem with little experience in teaching working-class students. The primary surrounding of the play is in the office of a university lecturer and explores the changes in Susan and Dr Frank’s lives following Susan’s entry at the University.
The play was first premiered at London in 1980 and directed by Mike Ockrent.
Analysis of Rita’s character
Rita is currently working as a hairdresser but is not happy in her current career so applies for University to see what the educating lifestyle has to offer. In the opening scene, we can recognise that Rita is a bubbly character as she bursts through the doors swearing; immediately draws attention to herself. It is evident that Rita is uncomfortable at first, unsure how to act in her new surroundings and therefore comes across in a loud manner.
Her initial conversation with her tutor, Dr Frank is very informal, for example not only does she ask Frank if she can smoke, but she also gets out her cigarettes before he has had a chance to answer. She even offers him one, this shows us she is trying to ease the tension between her and Frank and this tells us she is quite shy and nervous although she doesn’t seem it. At one point of the play Frank invites Rita to come to a dinner but Rita doesn’t turn up and the following day she tells Frank why, Rita says to Frank “I’m alright with you here in this room but when I saw those people you were with I couldn’t come in”. This tells us Rita lacks confidence at the beginning of the play which emphasises that she does not really fit in anywhere. She thinks Frank’s friends will look down on her because she is not educated. Rita also says “I’m a freak” “I’m a half-caste”, this also tells us she feels she doesn’t fit in.
Talking About Rita Frank Scene Essay
Educating Rita- the summary Act one Scene one The hairdresser Rita wants to become educated. She enrolled into an open university and was accepted. Rita get a tutor- Frank-. This scene describes the first meeting between both. Frank expects an insecure, shy woman. But Rita is self- assured, extroverted and speaks a lot. They talk about irrelevant themes like pictures alcohol and about smoking. ...
Once Rita is confident talking to Frank she asks him how she has done in her coursework, Frank tells her it’s not as good as the others, Rita fully expresses herself now she says to Frank if its crap tell me. Rita says “so we dump it in the bin and we start again”
Rita also wants an education because she wants to be able to sing a better song when in the pub, she thinks her mother is dissatisfied with the songs that are being sung. Rita says to Frank “I asked her why you are crying mother” she said “because we can sing better songs than those.” At this point the audience feels sympathy for Rita and her mother.
As the play progresses, we notice a change in Rita’s character. Her confidence increases as she becomes more comfortable when she returns from Summer School. We notice a change in her use of language, as her vocabulary increased, there is little swearing by her character.
Another change in Rita’s character is when she has a new flatmate named Trish. Trish seems to have a strong influence on Rita’s character, this is shown when Rita enters Frank’s office dressed like Trish and she starts to talk like her.
Rita also makes a positive life choice, when she decides to quit smoking. This helps us to understand how education has affected her life. Towards the end of the play Rita is left with a choice, she is offered a job at London; she can go with the students to France or travel with Frank to Australia. This tells us not only has education given her confidence and more knowledge but also a choice. As Rita has changed Frank has mixed emotions, he is happy for her but not for himself.
The Essay on Lord Loam Play Character Felt
In this play I played the role of Lord Loam. An old man in his early 70's with little clue of how to survive in the real world. When we had rehearsals for the play I wanted a good part. When I found out I was too play an old man I tried very hard to put on the voice of an old man. As this was set in the period of the early 20 th century, I knew it had to be a posh sounding voice. This put a bit of ...
Analysis of Frank’s character
At the beginning of the play we are told that Frank doesn’t like to teach, and is only taking on the projects to get money to fund his drinking habit. Frank says to Rita when she first comes in to his office ‘I’ll tell you everything I know but if I do, promise to never come back here’. At this point Frank is willing to teach Rita. Rita questions Frank about why he is teaching the project if he doesn’t like to teach, Frank replies ‘I suppose I took it on to pay for the drink’, this clearly tells us that Frank is a drunkard. As Frank and Rita get talking, Frank begins to state a scenario about one of his students who he teaches and he refers to her as ‘some silly woman’. This tells us Frank doesn’t really care about his students. Frank is really keen about Rita now, he feels that she isn’t like the other students and if he teaches her she might change, this is shown when Frank says to Rita ‘But I don’t know if I want to tell you, I don’t know that I want to teach you’. Franks doubts about Rita changing were correct. At one point of the play after Rita has changed Frank say’s “I shall insist as being known as Mary Shelley”. This tells us Frank thinks he has created a monster (Frankestein).
Frank also changes in many ways; he begins to act like Rita as she was at the beginning of the play. He starts to swear more and his drinking habit gets worse. However towards the end of the play Frank is suspended from teaching as he let his drinking habit get the better of him, now Frank moves to Australia for a fresh start, before he goes Rita gives him a haircut, which changes him look wise.
Use of dramatic devices
