Rita That’s a nice picture, isn’t it?
Frank Erm-yes, I suppose it is-nice…
Rita It’s very erotic.
This kind of thing is shown through a lot of act 1 scene 1.
There are lots of things Rita makes Frank think about in this scene. Most of the things are little like whether he thinks the picture is erotic or whether or not he should take a cigarette. But there are some fairly big things she makes him think about, like whether or not an education could really change her life or, whether he can really give Rita what she wants. This also makes the audience think about various issues that come up in the play. Frank enjoys literature. This is because he understands it. At first Frank doesn’t think Rita should take the course, as she isn’t the right kind of person to do it. When he meets her his ideas really change and he starts to understand what she wants.
Frank’s character is very complex you can tell this by the fact that when you first see him drinking and hiding his whisky, he seems like a drunk who cares about nothing but, when Rita appears on stage and he tries to keep up with her in their conversation, he seems a lot better person. At the end of the scene, Frank likes the O.U. course a lot more than before he met Rita. This is because he likes Rita. He also thinks a lot more about things in general and he is starting to show his better side. In this scene, the audience start off by disrespecting him because he drinks, he hates the job and only does it for the money, but then further through the scene as he opens up to Rita, you begin to respect him. The audience are invited to respond in this way because the audience have to be kept entertained. It also keeps the audience guessing what will happen.
Rita is a ladies’ hairdresser from a working class area of Liverpool. She is very quick and witty. This makes her very likeable as a character and as she has had a hard life she is very determined. At the start of the play, Rita bursts onto the stage. This is to make it seem as though she is bursting into Frank’s life. It is also to make her character seem lively from the start. Rita also has a strange sense of humour. She tries to make a joke of everyday things. Frank doesn’t understand most of her jokes:-
Rita Y’know Frank, Frank Ness, Elliot’s Brother.
Frank What?
There is a lot of this kind of humour all through the play, which really confuses Frank. She is also humorous because she makes a lot of mistakes. Rita uses a lot of swearwords when she speaks. She also has a very strong accent, which means she quite often only uses parts of words:-“…D’ y’ wanna lend it?…” In this quote and in a lot of others, she also uses the wrong words e.g. lend instead of borrow. Rita’s initial thoughts about herself are that she is stupid:-“It’ll probably have a job findin’ my brain.” She also doesn’t think she is a proper student and says O.U. courses are ‘degrees for dishwashers’. Rita responds to frank by trying to impress him by telling him about the books she has read. Rita is impatient with Frank, you can tell this by the fact that she complains at Frank for not fixing the door.
Frank makes Rita think about things like whether she really does want him to teach her and whether she really does want to do the course. Rita would like to understand literature but she doesn’t. She thinks that to be able to understand it, she needs an education. Rita’s character is very complex you can tell this by the fact that on the outside she appears strong and determined but on the inside she is quiet. She is also complex because she wants to know everything.
By the end of the scene she is a lot more confident than at the beginning. You can tell this by the fact that at the beginning she talks a lot because she is nervous and at the end of the scene she actually says that she wants Frank to be her tutor. The audience start off by disliking her because of her rudeness and boldness but then when they start to realise her problem, they start to like her a lot more. The audience are invited to respond in this way because the audience have to be kept entertained. It also keeps the audience guessing what will happen in the end.
In act 1 scene1, Russell uses different types of humour with the different characters. With Frank, he uses his misunderstanding of some of the things Rita says to interest the audience:-
Rita: she used to be with Charlie’s Angels.
Frank: remains blank
This statement shows that he knows very little about popular television. Rita brings humour into the play by the things she says and by not understanding Frank. Together, in their usual conversation, Frank and Rita make the play humorous by talking about strange things:- Rita “Try and sell them a wig.” Their conversation often goes in weird directions i.e. at the start of the scene they are talking about whether or not the picture is pornographic and at the end of the scene they are talking about Flora margarine.
At the end of the scene we are left wondering several things, whether they are going to get closer, what is Rita going to learn from Frank and is Frank going to carry on teaching her. At the end of the scene, the audience are engaged so they want to carry on watching because, they want to know what will happen in the rest of the play. These things include, whether she will get what she wants and whether she will pass or fail her exam. Russell has used the combination of these two completely different characters to add humour. This humour has built the drama up a lot because little details are revealed throughout the scene which makes you raise questions about what will happen at the end of the play.
