Rita is currently working as a hairdresser, but wants to achieve so much more than that, she wants an education.
We get an idea of what sort of personality Frank has got by the conversation he has with Julia when she calls him to see when he was coming home. Although Frank had other Ideas, he was planning on going to the pub. We could see this by, “ Yes I shall go to the pub” and “I don’t need determination to get me to the pub”. We get the impression that Frank does not care a great deal about Julia although it’s clear she loves him.
When Frank was told that he was going to be tutoring Rita who is an open university student he was not very happy, the only reason he had took the job was so that he could make more money to spend on alcohol. Frank guessed that she was going to be “some silly woman”. This gives us the impression that Frank likes to use stereotypes and thinks that there is not much point. He soon realises that Rita has quite a lot to offer in regard to he uniqueness. The Playwright Russell wants to show how class affects education.
When we first meet Rita we see that she is not the normal student Frank was expecting. She swears and uses informal colloquial language. This makes us think that Rita is not at all nervous about starting Open University and also makes her working class background obvious. When Frank first meets Rita he is quite taken in by her as she bursts in the room because the door was stuck. When she eventually gets in she tells Frank that he should get the door fixed Frank responds by saying, “Erm-yes, I suppose I always mean to…”. This shows us that Frank does not like being active and that he does not have a positive attitude to life. Rita takes particular interest in a picture in Frank’s room. The picture shows a naked woman in which Rita describes as “Erotic”. Frank unlike Rita doesn’t notice his surroundings. We can tell this by Frank’s comment he says, “I haven’t looked at that picture in 10 years”.
Frank is very amiable of Rita’s uniqueness and is frightened that she will lose this if she mixes with other students. There is a major clash between Frank and Rita’s personalities although strangely this brings them closer. Frank is more laid back and Rita is bubbly and exciting. There is another clash between Frank and Rita and this clash helps to make the play funnier the clash is culture. Rita knows about popular culture which is stuff like television programmes and “Charlie’s Angels” there is one huge misunderstanding that stands out above all the rest this is “Do you know Yeats?” “The wine lodge?” “No, Yeats the poet”. This shows that frank understands high culture more than he is with popular culture. These misunderstandings create humour and also skilfully inform us of the characters.
The Playwright Willy Russell very effectively creates drama, humour, entertainment and suspense by using things such as dramatic devices and lively dialogue. Also by creating two completely different characters he has tastefully added a purposeful clash. The purpose of the clash is to make the play seem more interesting. The suspense is made so that the reader wonders what is going to happen to Rita and Frank this also makes the play seem more exciting and dramatic.
