Our Day Out is structured in a number of short scenes thus keeps the audience attention. Willy Russell has cleverly decided upon this as it gives an effect of a moving journey, the main aspect of the play, a journey through the education system. Unlike performances in the Shakespearean period, a 20th century audience would want to watch it for its amazing effects, rather than a less ordinary language. Willy Russell wanted a common language that everyone is familiar with therefore he chose to set the scene in Liverpool. Liverpool is a place Willy Russell knew well according to his own experiences and it was also a familiar language that everyone in the country could relate to hearing. Willy Russell figured if people could relate this to normality, then they would realise the state of the education system.
Within the play, Willy Russell uses ‘black humour’. He uses this sense of humour, as it will make the audience laugh; however it will also create an image of seriousness. An example of this black humour is when Digga and Reilly were smoking; Mr Briggs comments ‘put it out. Now get to the front of the coach’. Another example of black humour is when the children arrive at the zoo and a bear is trapped in a cage depicting the characters in Our Day Out. The characters are also trapped, in a cage an invisible cage of deception. However Willy Russell is trying to say the characters may feel trapped but they can brake free unlike the bear that has no control just like society at that particular time. I feel Willy Russell has purposely chosen a zoo so the audience can laugh at diverse perspectives on certain aspects.
In the play Our Day Out, some of the characters are very much at contrast to each other. Mr Briggs, a teacher is a very insecure character; his behaviour is due to not wanting people to see who he really is. His philosophy is that everything has to be organised and in place. An example of this is when he makes the pupils stand in a straight line. He comments ‘Stop! Slater, walk… walk! You boy come here. Now stop’. Willy Russell is making a point that he is trapped in his own view and in reality, things aren’t always as straightforward and in place as they seem. An example of this is when the children are in the shop and ‘the counter cannot be seen for pushing, impatient kids’. If Mr Briggs were at the counter then this would not have occurred, as his own regimented ideas would have been practiced.
Mrs Kay is quite the opposite. She is an easygoing character, and perhaps not very honest. An example of this is when she lies to Ronny the coach driver about the children having sweets, she says ‘ Ronny, the kids with me today don’t know what it is to look at a bar of chocolate. Lemonade never touches their lips’. Then straight after the conversation she allows the children to get out their lemonade and chocolate. Ronny sympathises with her and allows the children to carry on. Mrs Kay is a very convincable person. She also is not entirely honest with Carol who asks her about the future. She comments ‘ well you could try’. Mrs Kay is trapped by her perception of the idea of deception.
Colin and Susan are also teachers. They are very shy characters. However through this perception the pupils get the impression that they do not seem to care much. Colin and Susan do not question anything they just carry on. An example of this is when Digga and Reiley are smoking on the coach and they do not do anything to prevent this. Willy Russell does this to highlight that they are trapped in their lack of concern it also shows how they are not looking in other directions of prevention to improve the education system.
Carol Chardler is another main character. She is a very stubborn girl, however knows what she wants in life. She constantly aims for a better future, for example she asked Mrs Kay about what her future holds; she comments to Mrs Kay ‘d y think I’d be able to live on one of them nice places’. From this she is sure of her goal. When she was standing on the cliff she was stubborn, yet very sure. Carol Chardler is trapped in her own ideas she does not realise the true nature of life. For example, in the conversation with Mrs Kay Carol says ‘Where they have gardens and trees outside an’ that’. However Mrs Kay corrects her by mentioning ‘trees in Pilot Street’.
Ronson is very much the outsider of the play. He regularly has his own ideas and opinions on matters. An example of this is when he is at the zoo with the other children. Ronson talks of his own opinion of the animals. Through this character Willy Russell is trying to comment that not everyone feels the same and it highlights that people should be encouraged to question and not take what they see on face value. This emphasises that all have different views, ideas and outlooks on life. Each opinion should be listened to, questioned, valued and considered equally.
Digga and Reilly are mischievous characters. They smoke on the back seat of the coach even when deliberately asked not to smoke by the teachers. They are trapped by their ideas of taking risks. Throughout these characters Willy Russell is showing how weak the school system really is, incapable of controlling students.
Willy Russell produced Our Day Out as a moving journey; I feel he is making the point that the journey will not move smoothly if people are trapped in their own thoughts and perceptions of life and are unwilling to change.