When you are playing Rita’s character you will find that her choice of words in the beginning of the play differentiates as she becomes more educated further on in the play. In Act one when Rita first meets Frank most of her sentences consisted of words like “sod off” and “bleedin” later on she says things like “I sort of encapsulated all my ideas” This shows that she is learning how to use a wider rage of vocabulary. In Act two Rita attempts to change her regional dialect under the influence of her new room mate Trisha. Rita tells Frank that Trisha has told her “There is not a lot of point in discussing beautiful literature in an ugly voice”. This clearly shows that Rita thinks very highly of Trisha. Additional evidence of Trisha’s impact upon Rita’s speech can be found at the beginning of Act two scene three when Frank calls Rita a “Dalek” (A robot from the hit TV series Doctor Who) meaning that he thinks she sounds artificial just like a robot, Rita then replies to Frank “Trish says that no matter how difficult I may find it I must persevere” indicating that Trisha has instructed her to change the way she speaks, this shows that Rita values Trisha’s advice. This is important for you to remember because Rita would most probably speak about Trisha with a respectful tone, giving the sense that she thinks very highly of her as though she were a celebrity.
Rita also has a poor understanding of English literature in Act one this is demonstrated when Frank asks her if she knew the poet Yeats to which she replied “the wine lodge”. You must look convincingly bewildered when frank asks questions like this because your knowledge of English literature has no yet developed.
However this is not the case after Act two, when Rita is able to converse with Frank about various poems and authors and other intellectual subjects. These positive changes in Rita are primarily due to her experiences at summer school, where her knowledge of English literature further develops. Evidence of Rita’s intellectual development can be found in Act one scene one where Frank talks to Rita about a poet named “William Blake”, Rita who has already studied this poet at summer school recites one of his poems from memory. So it is imperative that you recite this poem clearly without showing any signs of hesitation or lack of enthusiasm.
When playing the role of Rita you must be aware of her behaviour change from Act one to two. In act one in the beginning when she first sets foot into Frank’s office and meets him for the first time she is very inquisitive, she asks questions like, “do you like that painting?” and “this was the pornography of the day, wasn’t it?”.
Also she is not apprehensive about exploring Frank’s office continuously asking questions like “do you like this view?” When you play this scene you must act like you feel at home in Frank’s room because Rita says to Frank “I like this room” and dumps her bag at the desk which is evidence that she feels comfortable.
Rita is very bold when she first enters Frank’s office “look at those tits” Rita says to Frank. Rita’s insecurities and nerves make her appear in such a load manner. This shows how little she understands of formal interview situations, one would expect someone who is apprehensive, shy but very formal, this is the opposite of what you have to be, you must be cheeky and informal.
It is worth noting that you are going to have to change your attitude slightly after you come into contact with Frank’s other students because it is then that Rita realizes that compared to them she is uneducated. We know that Rita tries to distance herself from the other students by the tone of voice when she refers to them as “them” and “they”, this changes when she starts to know them, “I started talking to some students down on the lawn”, she even starts to criticize them, “For students they don’t half come out with some rubbish” this is a turnaround from when she “used to be quite wary of them”.
So remember to distance yourself from the other students until Rita’s major changing point which is after she returns from summer school. It is after summer school that she decides to quit smoking, we know this because in Act two scene one Frank offers her a cigarette and she says “no I’ve packed it in” this is a big change from Act one when she continuously asks Frank “can I smoke”. This is very contradictive of her because in Act one she said to Frank that people that have stopped smoking “are cowards”, this is significant because this proves that Rita has begun to think more logically.
So remember that after Act two scene one the prop that you can forget about is cigarettes. Rita decides that she does not want to work as a hairdresser anymore, “I’ve left hairdressin’ to work in a bistro” she informs Frank, this is further evidence of a change in Rita’s behaviour so when your playing the role of Rita you must appear positive and proud that you work in a Bistro instead of a Hairdressers.
Rita’s relationship with Frank is a pivotal part of the play because all of the dialogue is between these two characters. When Frank meets Rita for the first time he is attracted by her vivacious personality he refers to her as “a breath of fresh air”, Rita also likes Frank she even tells him “I like you”. Perhaps the reason they like each other is because they are both mutually beneficial to each other; Rita idolizes him and says things like “you’re dead clever” which makes him feel good about himself and Rita benefits from his knowledge and expertise in English literature. However the balanced relationship between Frank and Rita changes when she becomes more educated and less dependant on him, Frank does not like the new Rita evidence of this is when he says to Rita “I shall be known as Mary Shelley’ she wrote a little gothic number called Frankenstein” Frank is trying to compare Himself to the creator of Frankenstein in this case Rita, he believes that by teaching her he has made a monster out of her.
Another thing you need to take into consideration is that Rita is living with her student friend Trisha, who has a great deal of influence the female equivalent of Frank; as a consequence her relationship with Frank has deteriorated since she has been spending more time with Trish, “I’m meeting Trish at seven. We’re going to see a production of the seagull”.
Act two Scenes 4 and 5 are the scenes that you will need to distance yourself slightly with Frank because these two scenes represent a crisis in the relationship of Rita and Frank. Frank has made it clear to Rita he does not like what she has become and Rita believes his disapproval is the result of her becoming more independent, “I am not an idiot now, Frank – I don’t need you to hold my hand as much… I can – I can do things on me own more now”. You must say this loud and clear with passion because this is when the audience will realise that Rita and Frank’s relationship is becoming unstable.
In the begging Rita and Frank had a mutual understanding of each other, he did not care if she smoked or swore and she did not complain about his drinking addiction, but this all changes when she says “are you still on that stuff’ it will kill you” this does not go down well with him because he responds “don’t try and reform me”. This is different from before when her response to his drinking was “it’s your bran cells you’re killing”, after you come back from summer school you need to act and look more concerned about Frank and his drinking problem.
Another aspect of Rita that is important is Rita’s relationship between herself and her family especially her husband Denny. Denny is against Rita’s involvement in the Open University, believing that it was the reason for Rita taking contraception pills “Denny found out I was on the pill again; it was my fault, I left me prescription out. He burnt all my books” Rita says to Frank, in this conversation with Frank you need to look like you are in despair as you do not want to risk your relationship with Denny and at the same time you want to better yourself through education.
When playing the role of Rita you must understand that Rita is conflicted about her place in society. Rita says to Frank that she feels as though she is “half caste”, what is meant by this is she feels that she can not fit in with educated people neither can she fit in with poorly educated people such as her husband and family. An example of this is when she could not attend Franks party, “sorry couldn’t come” she wrote on the back of her essay, she then explains to Frank why she did not attend his party, her reason was because of the people she saw there, “but when I saw those people you were with I couldn’t come in” this is likely be the result of her being insecure about herself possibly because she believes she is a “freak”. Another example is when she tells Frank that she “went into the pub” and asked herself “what the frig am I doing”.
The above quotations prove that Rita is in the middle of these two contrasting lifestyles and feels as though she is trapped. This is similar to her situation at the beginning of the play where she felt as though she was trapped by her working class life, so in reality one could argue that Rita is right back were she started.
It is important for you to understand how Rita’s way of thinking changes as the play progresses. In Act one Rita seems to be quite naive, thinking from a direct point of view, “But these stuck up idiots I meet, they think they’re royalty just cos they don’t swear.” This quote suggests that Rita thinks with a single point of view and does not consider other possibilities this could be why she struggles with English literature in the beginning of the play. When the play progresses Rita possibly for the first time in her life thinks philosophically, “a room is like a planet” she explains to Frank, this is something that Rita would not have been capable of saying in Act one.
In conclusion to all of the points made above I believe that Rita does not truly know what she wants to do with her life. Her relationship with Frank and her family disintegrates as she becomes more educated. Although her personality changes in a circular motion she ends up in the same place as before however this time she has a choice with what path she wants to take in life whether it be carrying on with her education or settling down.
I hope that is letter has been beneficial to you and I look forward to seeing your performance.
Yours Sincerely,
Steven Spielberg
(Director)
