We can also sympathise with Rita and Frank because of the closeness between audience and characters, and so this can make otherwise trivial circumstances seem more significant, such as when Rita appeared for her tutorial carrying a suitcase after Denny presented her with an ultimatum – her mood has completely changed from how she normally behaves; she is pensive and downcast. She left Denny because she said she needed to carry on with her lessons, and this setback only made her even more determined to continue. If we did not have the intimacy that having a focus of only two characters provides, we would not realise that this was an extremely important moment or fully comprehend how great a change it was for her.
The beginnings and endings of scenes in “Educating Rita” are particularly effective as they do not just drift on and off – the endings especially are snapshot like and capture your attention.
In most of the earlier scenes, they mostly finish on humorous points. For example, in Act I, Scene 2, Rita and Frank were discussing Forster’s “Howards End’. Rita tried to bring some humour into the tutorial by saying, “Does Forster’s repeated use of the phrase ‘only connect’ suggest that he was really a frustrated electrician?....In considering Forster it helps if we examine the thirteen amp plug....”. The immediate stage direction is Blackout. The same technique – of humour, and then an instant blackout to end a scene – is used quite a lot in the first act. Humour is also used for the opening of scenes, for example the beginning of Act I, Scene 2. Frank is glancing at his watch and is clearly agitated – we can see that Rita is late and we wonder if she might not be coming. He then notices the door handle being turned and, thinking that she is stuck on the other side of the door, he opens it for her and discovers her on the other side with an oilcan, oiling the handle. This shows her outgoing, confident personality, and also her shrewdness: from just one meeting, she knows enough about Frank to realise that he wouldn’t have fixed the door since last week.
In the second act, the scenes tend to finish more with poignant moments, such as the conversations Frank and Rita had at the end of Act II, Scene 4:
- “I understand now, Frank; I know the difference between—between—Somerset Maugham an’ Harold Robbins. An’ you’re still treating me as though I’m hung up on ‘Rubyfruit Jungle’. Just... You understand, don’t you Frank?”
- “Entirely, my dear.”
- “I’m sorry.”
- “Not at all. I got around to reading it, you know, ‘Rubyfruit Jungle. It’s excellent.”
- “Oh go way, Frank. Of its type it’s quite interesting. But it’s hardly excellence.”
Blackout.
Frank is trying to connect with Rita by reading the book that she once told him was ‘a fantastic book’. He realises that in its own class, the book is good and he understands what she saw in it. However, Rita now finds the book as Frank would have found it at the beginning – ‘hardly excellence’. Frank and Rita have changed roles a bit now.
The playwright has chosen to use only one setting throughout; Frank’s study. This does not detract from the overall effect of the play as it enables the audience to become very familiar with the setting and can focus on the characters instead. Frank’s study is the only place where Frank and Rita meet and we can see their entire relationship which has just been created to exist in this one room. The only way in which we learn about the outside world is through Rita and Frank’s conversations, for example Rita telling Franks about Denny burning her books. We become familiar with the layout and atmosphere of Frank’s room and it looks like nothing has been moved or changed much for years. When even small changes are brought in, we notice them, such as Rita wanting to open the windows and Frank telling her to leave it shut. This symbolises the ‘breath of fresh air’ that Rita was bringing into Frank’s study and his life. At the beginning of Act II, Frank is sitting typing poetry. He had given up writing poetry, but Rita has obviously inspired or persuaded him to take it up again.
The film used many different settings, which added to the visual interest which is vital for the medium of film, but the intensity of focus which works so well in the theatre is lost.
One of the most important factors that make 'Educating Rita' so brilliant is the sparkling language of the play. Willy Russell uses humour and combines it with his sparkling script using two different kinds of speech to present serious issues such as the role of women in society, alcoholism and class stereotyping. However, a lot of the humour exists simply to further the comedy., for example Act I, Scene 2:
- Rita – why didn’t you walk in here twenty years ago?
- Cos I don’t think they’d have accepted me at the age of six.
This is effective because it involves the audience and makes it more entertaining.
Towards the beginning of the play, the two different kinds of speech were very apparent and clearly defined, for example, in Act I, Scene 2:
Frank’s speech is very formal and precise for talking about literature:
Frank You must try to remember that criticism is purely objective. It should be approached almost as a science. It must be supported by reference to established literary critique. Criticism is never subjective and should not be confused with partisan interpretation. In criticism sentiment has no place.
Rita’s speech is colloquial, informal, but very lively, vibrant and entertaining:
Rita It’s crap because the feller who wrote it was a louse. Because halfway through that book I couldn’t go on reading it because he, Mr Bleedin’ E. M. Forster says, quote “We are not concerned with the poor” unquote. That’s why it’s crap. And that’s why I didn’t go on reading it, that’s why.
As the play progresses, the speech reverses as Rita picks up expressions and the language for discussing literature and literary criticism, and Frank’s speech becomes more informal when he is talking to Rita. We do not know whether he uses the same speech for talking to others, as we only see him with Rita. A good example of this is when Rita is discussing Frank’s poetry:
Frank Just think if I’d let you see it when you first came here.
Rita I know. . . I wouldn’t have understood it, Frank.
Frank You would have thrown it across the room and dismissed it as a piece of shit, wouldn’t you?
Rita I know. . . But I couldn’t have understood it then, Frank, because I wouldn’t have been able to recognise and understand the allusions.
All these points make 'Educating Rita' dramatically effective as a play.
Catherine Young, 10RR