Our Day Out - review.

        Mr Briggs seems to change when he is talking to Carol Chandler on the cliff. He tries shouting at her but when it becomes obvious that it isnt going to work he tries a different approach and tries talking to her and listening to what she is saying. He tells her that she has to go back to Liverpool as they would have to inform he police and she would be taken back anyway. He tells her that she would need food and water and shelter and stuff and that she wouldn't be able to survive on her own.

Section 3

        Our first impression of Mrs Kay is some what different to the impression we got of Mr Briggs. Mrs Kay seems quite laid back and in the job for the children rather than her reputation with the headmaster. Mrs Kay is a open-minded, tolerant and kind hearted teacher, who is affectionate for the children as people. She understands that a lot of the children come from a deprived background and makes allowances for this, she genuinely cares for the children; She tells Maurice "to come away from that road", when they are waiting for the bus , because she is truly concerned for his safety, not because she enjoys ordering her class around. She is seen as being quite manipulative at he beginning of the play as she she manages to distract the bus driver so that Colin and Susan can get the children onto the coach. This was quite a selfless thing to do for the kids and shows that she cares. Mrs Kay doesn't feel the need to shout - unlike Mr Briggs -  because the children respect her for being nice to them. Mrs Kay sees the children as lost souls, failures and factory fodder, she can see that they are not ging to get very far in life and probably end up following in the footsteps of their parents, however she hides this from the children as she doesnt want to shatter their hopes and dreams.

        Mrs Kay almost seems to see the children as her own children/grandchildren and she is like a mother hen figure to them. The children see Mrs Kay as sweet and kind and more of a grandmother rather than a teacher. The children seem to walk all over Mrs Kay because she is so soft on them, however, Mrs Kay seems to be quite clued up, for example when she makes Reilly and Digga get a note form Mr Briggs in stead of just them elling her he said yes in case they didn't

        The other teachers see her as weak and unneffective. As she is so soft on the children and she knows that they cant be taught she almost makes up for that by just being there if they need to talk and listening to them.The headmaster and other teachers see her as more of a liabilty than an asset and make no attempt to hide this fact from her. The also show an element of mistrust as the headmaster asks Mr Briggs to go with them to Wales to supervise the trip. Susan and Colin, however, see her as a good friend and respect her. Colin even defends Mrs Kay when Mr Briggs is calling her. Mr Briggs uses the term mother hen, he mght have called her that because of the way her and Carol were sat on the bus and also the way in which she seems to be able to detect when the children aren't happy and she knows that they want.

        Mrs Kay is percieved as both a realist and an idealist. She is a realist when she is talking to Carol about moving away from Liverpool as she knows in her heart it will never happen,and also when she is talking to Briggs in the cafe about 'factory fodder.' She seems to be a fake idealist when she talks to the kids as she doesnt want to shatter their hopes and dreams. When carol is talking on the bus about living in the countryside Mrs Kays says that she can try even though she knows Carol wil always live in Liverpool but she doesnt want to stop Carol from dreaming. She almost doesn't seem to want to admit this to the children.  Mrs Kay does not believe in traditional stles of teaching and thinks that discipline and high tandards are no the way to teach the children. She doesn’t sem to be able to understand why society puts those children to the back of the ‘queue.’ She seems to want the children to ate least have a good day out even if they have to go back to to the injustice of their society.

Conclusion

        Willy Russell wants you to be onMrs Kay's side. We knew this because of the way the characters are percieved right from the outset of the play. We are instantly expected to be on the side of the children and are therefore going to be on the same side as anyone being nice to the children.  You can tell this by the attitudes that uses towards both pupils and teachers.

Mrs Kay does not believe in traditional teaching methods of discipline and high standards, she is lost to understand the unfairness of a society which puts these children to the back of the queue. She wants the children to least have a good day out, even if they are not going to resolve the struggle of the unequal chance and social injustice.